WHAT IS MEANT BY THE "SABBATH REST"?

When God tells us to enter into the "Sabbath Rest'.

All of us either are going through or have gone through some really tough times this year (physically and emotionally). If you are not currently going through these trials, you probably will be!

Some are going through some financial struggles. I want to address and offer something for all of us reading this devotion.

I want to offer the "Sabbath Rest"

Hebrews... a precious book. Key word is "better."

Better covenant... a better priest...

• (Hebrews 10:1, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming... not the realities themselves."...
• Hebrews 10:11-14... "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But... when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God... by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."

Hebrews 4:9-13, ⁹ "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

What is the Sabbath Rest that the writer of Hebrews is speaking of?

I will address three (3) facts that will help us understand the "Sabbath Rest."

1. On the seventh day of creation (the Sabbath); there is no evening and morning
   
   Note: 1st day... let there be light... v. 5, "and there was evening, and there was morning... the first day... 2nd day... God created... v. 8, "and there was evening, and there was morning... the 2nd day... 3rd... 4th... 5th... 6th... God created... animals and man... and v.31... and there was evening, and there was morning... the sixth day.
   
   (Genesis 2:1-3). "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."
   
   

   No evening... no morning...
   
   

   The evening and morning were indicative of a developing process, beginning in a rather incomplete state and moving toward light.
   
   The work of God is complete on the seventh day, and therefore no evening or morning is mentioned.
   
   The Sabbath is a perfect thing. It is not something to grow into; it is something to step into and to discover it to be exactly what it always is perfect, finished.
   
   Note: And He wants us to enter the Sabbath rest.
   
   

2. The Real Sabbath is "Rest in Him"

   The word "seven," the word "Sabbath," and the word "rest," are all the same basic word in Hebrew, Shabbat.

   Therefore, the heart of the meaning of Sabbath is "rest." Simply means the ending of activity, the cessation of effort. He did not stop because he was fatigued; he stopped because he was through with the work portion of it (creation). The true Sabbath is not the keeping of a special day but the ending of a specific effort.

3. Count on His Working... Enter Into His Rest!
   
   "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
   
   Notice that twice in that passage is the word rest. One rest is given, the other is found.
   Christ paid it all; you were freely forgiven. What a sense of rest that was! He gave it to you.
   But as you went on as a Christian you found that problems began to return and failures came. You ended up bored and disillusioned, disenchanted, discouraged.
   
   What is the answer?
   
   Well, it is what our Lord said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and you will find rest," (Matt 11:29-30a)

Hebrews 4:14-16, "Therefore since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

We see the great high priest in Jesus

Basis idea: Latin... for priest is "pontifex"
Pontifex... means "Bridge-Builder"
The priest is the person who builds a bridge between men and women and God.
To do this, the priest must know both human nature and God, and must be able to speak to God for men and women and in turn speak to them for God.

Jesus is the perfect high priest because He is perfectly human and perfectly God; He can represent us to God and God to us. He is the one person through whom we come to God and God comes to us.

Jesus is the builder... and ironically, the Bridge... the Rock on which we can confidently stand on in storms, in calamities, in the direst of circumstances.

HE IS THE BRIDGE IN WHICH WE MUST CROSS... TO ENTER THE SABBATH REST!

Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

SHABBAT... SHALOM! REST... AND PEACE IN HIM...