The Eternal Sabbath, From The Coming Day of Redemption

Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? (Acts 15:10)</p>

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (Romans 7:9)

Theologians have reasoned that since we are unable to keep God's laws we must be saved by "grace," that is, by forgiveness. However, that would make the new covenant inferior to the Law of Moses in that God's commandments never would be kept!

We have to die to the Law of Moses, and it to us, if we are to be free to pray, read our Bible, and hear from the Lord every day. We are to keep looking to Christ to see what His will is for the moment. If we do this, eventually the Day Star will arise in our heart and we will keep God's eternal law by nature.

Such is the way of the new covenant. We must die to the Law of Moses so we may be married to Christ. We have to die in Christ before we can live in the Presence of God.

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On Saturday, October 19, 2013, sometime in the late afternoon, I had an aha! moment. Do you know what an aha! moment is? It occurs when something you have been puzzling about suddenly comes together in your mind.

I have been preaching the seven feasts of Israel for many years, particularly the last three observances—the Blowing of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; and the Feast of Tabernacles.

I also have been teaching that Jesus wants us to live by His Life, just as He lives by the Father's Life. We are to think, speak, and act just as the Lord Jesus is thinking, speaking, and acting. This is how Jesus lives by the Father's Life. The Lord Jesus thinks, speaks, and acts as the Father is thinking, speaking, and acting.

Please consider this high standard of consecration to not be a grievous duty but an invitation and opportunity to know Jesus better.

Well, yesterday, Saturday, I was thinking about the "rest of God," set forth in the third and fourth chapters of the Book of Hebrews. I realized the passage is not speaking of the Jewish Sabbath Day. Actually, it is viewing the Land of Canaan as the rest of God, the goal of the Christian redemption.

Wham! It hit me! The last three feasts of the Lord are the entrance into the rest of God. The spiritual fulfillments of the first four feasts are preparatory, preparing us for the final three feasts. Also, when the seventh observance is fulfilled spiritually, people will be in the image of God, which is what God announced in the beginning.

Sounds like the promised Day of Redemption, doesn't it?

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

Let's see if this makes sense.

The first feast, the Passover, has to do with the blood of God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus. The blood of the Lamb protects us when God judges the world.

The second feast, Unleavened Bread, portrays our putting away the leaven of the world, as we are baptized in water.

The third feast, Firstfruits, tells us we must be born again. Our spirit is to be raised with Christ to the right hand of the Father.

The fourth feast, Pentecost, speaks of the power of God's Spirit that enables us to overcome sin; and also to minister by the Spirit.

The spiritual fulfillments of the first four feasts keep working and supporting the interventions of God that follow. To the present hour, most of God's people are not in God's image. To be in God's image is to be so filled with the Divine Virtue that we act like God, as the Lord Jesus Christ does.

God declared in the beginning that man is to be in His image. Obviously there must be more steps in the plan of redemption so that God's Word may be fulfilled.

Observance number five, is the Blowing of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah. It is the New Years Day of the Jews. It is the first day of the business year. To us Christians it symbolizes the beginning of the Kingdom of God, the establishing of God's will in the earth, and our being in God's image.

Christ, the King, comes with the sound of the trumpet to declare war against His enemies, to make them His footstool in fulfillment of the promise of the Father to Him. Christ has been seated at the right hand of the Father in anticipation of this day.

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (John 14:18-20)

"Because I live, ye shall live also"!

I am speaking now of the coming of Christ in the spirit world to His fervent disciples to carry out the last three acts of redemption. This appearing will take place prior to the Lord's worldwide second coming in which every eye shall see Him. The trumpet sounding in the spirit realm will announce the soon coming of the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement.

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire(I) or a launderer's soap. (Malachi 3:1,2–NIV)

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:11,12–NIV)

The purpose of this prior coming is to prepare the saints for Christ's glorious appearing to the world, in which every eye shall see Him.

The preparation will include a judgment that will begin with the household of God, with the Christian people. The sins of our flesh and spirit, and our self-will, are to be destroyed out of us so the Father may find rest in us.

If the Spirit of God is pointing out to you one or more of your sins, or your self-will, be quick to repent. God cannot find His rest in you while sin is crying out for expression, or if you are doing your own planning and thinking apart from the Lord Jesus.

If you confess and turn away from the sin that has been pointed out to you, Christ will forgive you and help you put it behind you.

If your problem is self-will, He will put you in difficult situations until you have been humbled and you are ready to live by the will of Christ.

How do you enter God's rest, in which you are living by thinking, planning, speaking, and acting along with the Lord Jesus? You enter it one step at a time.

For example, your job, or one part of your job. Pray before you start working. Pray during the job. Pray when you are finished with the job. Keep committing every aspect of the particular area to Jesus. Do this continually. After this portion of your job has been thoroughly committed to Christ, add another area, meanwhile keeping the first area committed to Christ.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Then turn your attention to your dinner. Pray before you eat; while you are eating; and when you finish eating. Invite Jesus into every area of your dinner, every time you eat dinner. Do not quit. Keep holding every smallest aspect of your dinner to Jesus. Do this for the rest of your life.

Now you have entered God's rest in every aspect of your job, and also in your dinner.

Let us say you are going to school and you dread your algebra class. Pray before the class, during the class, and when the class is over. Do this every day. Keep committing every aspect of the class to the Lord Jesus.

Now you are in the rest of God in every aspect of your job; in your dinner; and in your algebra class.

Do you mean my goal is to learn to pray without ceasing? Yes!

It may require a year or two; but if you keep bringing more and more of your life under the control of the Lord Jesus, the time shall arrive when you are living completely in the eternal sabbath.

Keep looking to Jesus as you are seeking to enter His rest. Your efforts need not be stressful or anxious. The Lord's ways are always peaceful and bring rest and joy. When He sees you are attempting to do what He has commanded, He will help you to remain joyful.

What I am suggesting in the words above is not a novelty, or the life a few exceptional Christians must lead. Every single member of the Church, the new Jerusalem, the Body of Christ, must attain to the rest of God. It is the manner in which all the members of the Royal Priesthood are to live.

Only such believers will be caught up when the Trumpet sounds!

Why are the victorious saints resurrected or changed, and caught up to meet Christ in the air, if it is not to descend with Him and govern the nations of the earth?

What would be the purpose of carrying up the whole Church to Heaven, many of whom are somewhat lacking in their determination to serve the Lord Jesus? Would this be the establishing of the Kingdom on the earth and bring justice to the nations?

I believe the general assumption of Christian people is that the "catching up" is the salvation of the entire Church. It is not. It is the calling up to Christ of the firstfruits of the Royal Priesthood—those who are to reign with Christ over the saved nations of the earth.

The Lamb is not standing on Mount Zion with the entire body of believers, but with those who have the Father's name in their forehead. This means they have set aside their own will and are living by the Father's will.

The Lord Jesus will come to you and declare war against all that is in you that is not of the image of God; all in which the Father cannot find rest.

This is the spiritual fulfillment of the fifth of the seven Levitical observances, the Blowing of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah.

The Blowing of Trumpets announces the sixth convocation, the Day of Atonement, the time of reconciliation to God. The step by step procedure I outlined above is the spiritual fulfillment of this sixth observance.

It is my point of view that the Day of Atonement will continue throughout eternity, because additional people will be being born and will need instruction in how to be reconciled to God and God to them.

Remember, God declared that He would make man in His image. This has not happened yet. The only person who has walked on the earth in the image of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. The declaration that man is to be in God's image was made on the sixth day of creation, in accordance with the sixth convocation, the Day of Atonement.

But after stating that man would be created in His image, God rested. His Spirit and Word will work until man is in the image of God, in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ in thinking, in speaking, and in acting. God always finishes what He begins!

God said that man would be male and female and would multiply. This is why homosexual people, while they continue their practice, cannot abide in the rest of God. God did not announce that man would take another man as his helper. Such a relationship never shall be permitted in the Kingdom of God. It is contrary to the fiat of the sixth day of creation.

Each homosexual will have his opportunity, when he is brought before his Creator, to explain why he does not agree with the original Divine fiat.

Finally, the rest of God. The final observance and goal of the seven celebrations is the seventh festivity, the feast of Tabernacles. In the feast of Tabernacles, the Father and the Son settle down to rest in the believer who has been keeping Christ's commandments.

He or she now is a living stone in the House of God, in the new Jerusalem. As part of the Head, he or she is the revelation of the Father to the creation. Under Jesus Christ, he or she shall govern the creation for eternity.

Remember, it is not primarily our rest, it is God's rest. God is seeking a house in which He can dwell and have fellowship with His creatures. We are being redeemed to this end—that God might find rest.

At some point in ages past, numerous angels rebelled against the will of the Father. This rebellion was very displeasing to God. Many of God's works since the rebellion of Satan and his angels have been a reaction to the original rebellion.

There came a point in the development of God's solution to the rebellion when God determined to appoint a king to govern the Kingdom He was planning. That King is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the major issue of God's working is obedience, because the original problem was rebellion against God's will.

The chosen King, the Lord Jesus, was tested in the area of obedience. It was a terrific trial. Abraham, the father of the believers, also had to endure a terrific trial.

Each member of the Royal Priesthood, will be submitted to the same temptations as Christ: that of survival; that of pleasure; that of self-will.

God desires to move His Throne from the invisible spirit world to the earth. His Throne will be on the new earth as the Holy City, the eternal Temple of God. From the Throne will flow the water of eternal Life for all people on the new earth.

In order to be a member of the Royal Priesthood, of the Throne of God, we must be living in the rest of God, in the eternal Sabbath. We must think and plan along with the Lord Jesus. We must speak along with the Lord Jesus. We must act along with the Lord Jesus. This is how Jesus Himself lives with the Father.

Can you see that the issue is obedience? Christ is entirely obedient to the Father at the deepest level of His Being. We must be entirely obedient to Christ at the deepest level of our being.

So we are tested, tested, tested to see if we truly are willing to be in perfect union with Christ, in all that He is and does, just as Christ is in perfect union with the Father in all the Father is and does.

Such is the enlarging and making visible and present on the earth of the Throne of God. In His new, eternal Temple, God will find rest, and we will find our rest. This is the end of all rebellion against the Father!

Do you want to be part of the eternal rest, the eternal Sabbath? Then right this minute tell God that you have chosen to be part of Christ. You are abandoning your right to think your own thoughts; speak your own words; follow your own path.

Some people will make this choice. You can choose to be one of them.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal dwelling place of the Father. You and I are rooms in that house, provided we continue through the entire program of redemption.

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Hebrews 4:11)

Notice that the verse says "to enter into that rest." This is not a call to just rest. It is to enter a specific rest, and that rest is that which God entered on the seventh day, when all of His work was finished.

The "rest of God" is that state of being in which we at all times look to Christ to see what He wants us to think, to speak, and to do.

The third and fourth chapters of the Book of Hebrews speak of the rest of God. At first glance the passage may seem to be speaking about the Sabbath Day of the Law of Moses. However a closer examination of the text reveals that such is not the case.

And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? (Hebrews 3:18)

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. (Hebrews 4:8)

Since the verses above are referring to Canaan, the land of promise, we understand that the "rest of God" refers to our inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Sabbath Day of the Law of Moses no longer has jurisdiction over the members of the Body of Christ. The Law is a servant who brings us to Christ. When we become part of Christ, the Law has done its job and is removed.

If the rest of God, which the author of Hebrews sets as our goal, were our observing of the Sabbath Day, more would be said about it in the Book of Hebrews. Instead, the Book of Hebrews stresses our bearing the good fruit of righteous behavior, and living by obedience and faith.

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (Galatians 3:24,25—NIV)

We are no longer under a guardian, under any part of the Law of Moses!

If I am not mistaken, the Spirit of God is pressing us today to move past the Pentecostal experience and learn to live by the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as He lives by the Life of the Father. This is the rest of God that we are to enter.

The Lord Jesus Christ from eternity to eternity dwells in the eternal Sabbath, that is, totally in the Life of the Father.

By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (John 5:30—NIV)

Don't you believe I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (John 14:10—NIV)

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)

The goal of the program of redemption is to provide a house, a dwelling place for God in which He can find rest.

Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? (Acts 7:49)

Next part Jesus said the same thing.

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