We are concerned about keeping the Sabbath with the distinct purpose of remembering the Sabbath rest that is coming upon the earth.
If you think that the Sabbath is not to be restored until the days of the Kingdom, I remind you of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:20, “Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day,” indicating that in the days of judgment the people will be keeping the Sabbath day again. We are not acting prematurely. This is an act that God has carefully led us to do. And the more you see it, the more you realize that there is an obedience required to the Lord’s commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” We have seen many ways of holiness devised by man that have been legalistic observances of many things in the Scripture. To revert to that would be trying to go back again to a bondage which always leaves a deep bitterness and harshness of spirit.
The Sabbath is to be a delight and a holy thing to us. We should delight to keep it. If you are wondering how you should keep it, I would suggest that every one of you just spend time on the Sabbath day waiting upon the Lord, meditating upon the Kingdom that is to come, for it is not just in a service observance that the Sabbath will be kept; it’s a thing of spirit, a holy day to you. Both the first chapter of Isaiah and the second chapter of Colossians point out the fact that God abhors the mere keeping of the feast of days and the Sabbath days. God held as an abomination even the letter-perfect observances of the offerings and sacrifices, because the spirit was not there.
As we come to the day of spirit, the technical observances are not nearly so important. Let your conscience direct you in this, but realize that the important thing is that it be a day holy in your heart, a day when you wait before God, remembering that another day is coming—and is already dawning upon us—a Sabbath rest that God is bringing to the whole earth. And in that day, the worship of the Lord will be glorious.
This message will be entirely a spiritualized presentation so that you get the spirit of the Sabbath in your heart. If the spirit of the Sabbath is in your heart, God will direct you in its observance. If the spirit of the Sabbath is not in your heart, it will be just a form or a tradition, and we will be no better off than those who have labored under legalism to no point. I do not predict, nor do I foresee in any way, that the observance of the Sabbath will deteriorate into a legalistic form; instead I look for it to become a supreme act of faith.
I predict that the service we have on the Sabbath will have the ministry of prophets, not only for ministry over people, but with predictions concerning the Kingdom. It is important for us to have this. Without it, we tend to go on with prophecies that cover the immediate range of the future but are not far reaching enough. In order to live and survive with our spirits brought high before the Lord many of us have to be able to see what is beyond the immediate future—not only the tribulation and judgment that is to come, but also the glorious days of the Kingdom.
Isaiah and Jeremiah, the prophets who speak so much of the Sabbath, also speak of the days of restoration and the days of judgment.
In their prophecies, there is always a unique intermingling of many things. Immediate judgment, as well as the first coming and the sufferings of the Lord, was predicted; but intermingled with all of this, like veins of gold through the strata of rock, are prophecies of the Kingdom that is to come.
The prophets looked with foreboding at the judgments in the range of mountains just ahead, but they always rejoiced when they saw the golden mountains of the Kingdom way beyond.
Sometimes they did not understand the span of time between the two ranges of mountains that they saw. We always find that principle in the Word of God. Held before us is the ultimate; and I look for the Sabbath service to be the service of the ultimate, where God predicts and speaks of the glorious things that are to come.
With the spirit of the great Sabbath rest for the earth upon us, how we will rejoice—not just in a Sabbath that commemorates the completion of creation, but in the Sabbath rest that is marking the completion of God bringing forth many sons to glory, in the spiritual creation of God finally reaching its ultimate place. This is certainly Scriptural.
It is very important that we see these mountain ranges of prophecy. Always God sets before us a word to walk in, but also a distant objective to which we are traveling.
I Corinthians 14:1 tells us, Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. Sometimes people prophesy without too much love. We desire these spiritual gifts and we start prophesying, but the ultimate is the great love of God that shall overwhelm the remnant.
Then we will not prophesy in part, but it will be a complete revelation; we will not know in part, but in a complete revelation. So we cry for these things to come. We have to walk through this present time, but ultimately there stands out there the glorious Kingdom-day in which we shall walk. And we shall be glad to discard anything that must be discarded. We believe the Lord for it.
There are several references in church history which indicate that the early Church actually kept both days. It was not until Constantine tried to introduce a great deal of the paganistic idea that Sunday became THE day.
Although the Scriptures do not give us too much guidance, I am convinced that the early Church kept both days. Even if they did not, I am still very happy to keep them both myself. In my opinion, Sunday is not a day sanctified by anything in the Scriptures. The only thing that has ever been said is that it was the day of the Lord’s resurrection. If so, we rejoice in that. Because of history and tradition, Sunday is the day with the greatest opportunity for people to meet and to worship in the house of the Lord. However, the Sabbath will have an increased significance as far as revelation of the Scriptures is concerned, as God restores with a real spiritual meaning what the Sabbath is to be to us.
Let there be no contention or confusion in your mind. We are not arguing with anyone about the Sabbath day. We are not trying to revolutionize everything and say, “The things that we have preached, we do not preach any more.” Because of the carefulness with which we walk, you can look back twenty years and find no contradictory teaching. Although it has been an expanding revelation, one revelation has never contradicted another. This is very unusual. It takes God to do something like that because men will invariably make mistakes. Our entering into the Sabbath is not tearing down anything that was given before, but rather it is an expanding vision and faith for the days to come.
I find myself drawn automatically to think about the days of the Kingdom, how glorious they will be. You may wonder if the day will come when we will stop assembling together. Oh no, in fact, we will assemble so much the more as we see the day approaching (Hebrews 10:25), and after the day gets here, we will continually go up to the house of the Lord with rejoicing. One thing that will never be abrogated is our assembling together to worship and to glorify the Lord.
The people in Old Testament times took the Sabbath quite seriously. On one occasion a man was stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32–36).
Nehemiah 13:15–22 also presents a very legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath. Nehemiah is speaking: In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.
Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day? Did not your fathers do the same so that our God brought on us, and on this city, all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”
And it came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates that no load should enter on the sabbath day. Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. Then I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you.”
From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Thy loving kindness.
Nehemiah is always asking God, “Just chalk this up and remember it, according to Your loving kindness.” Because of the loving kindness and the mercy of the Lord, he wants the Lord to give him a special blessing for all the good things he has done. Nehemiah probably started as a sweet young child, a cupbearer to the king. But eventually he was plucking out beards and using general force in smiting people.
The book of Nehemiah gives the story of restoration. The key issue in the day of restoration was the merchandise that had entered in. For this reason they were not to buy or sell or to conduct business as usual on the Sabbath day. Was this an end in itself or was it an observance that had significance? When they killed the Passover lamb, was that an end in itself for judgment of sin, or did it have a symbolical significance for the ages to come? Almost everything that was commanded in the Old Testament has a spiritual significance.
In this day we are coming close to the end of six thousand years of human history in which God has dealt with man by revelation: roughly four thousand years in the period of the Old Testament and close to two thousand in the New Testament times. If we consider (as the prophet said) a day for a year when they brought judgment, then we could interpret the six thousand years as six glorious days, and we know the seventh is bound to come.
In the divine scheme of things, the six days are followed by the seventh, the Sabbath. This applied also to years: six years, then a sabbatic year of rest during which the land was to lie fallow, with no sowing or reaping. The Year of Jubilee, every fifty years, followed the seventh sabbatic year (seven times seven is forty-nine, plus one). Applying this pattern of rhythm in the cycle of things, we could well believe that since six thousand years have passed, the great seventh day of the Kingdom of God, when rest from the Lord will be our portion, is about to come.
In the days of Nehemiah, business as usual on the Sabbath day was not to exist. If this is a prediction of the restoration, we understand what God describes in the book of Revelation: Babylon falls and the great business world and its wickedness comes to an end. The prophets of God will arise in judgment and the people of God will be free from the commercialism that has crept into their worship and into their observances of the Lord.
I don’t know how God is going to do all of these things, but I am positive that God holds as an abomination the commercialism of the house of God.
When Babylon falls, it is not only the ecclesiastical Babylon, but the commercial Babylon as well. God must bring down this commercialism that has crept in. He must restore once again the simplicity and the purity, so that men do not make a profession and a business of the house of God, or turn it into a house of merchandise, but that it becomes once again a house of prayer for all people (Isaiah 56:7) as the spirit of the Sabbath returns to the people of God.
The fourth chapter of Hebrews is the famous Sabbath rest chapter. As we read verses 1–11, notice the references to the Sabbath: Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
For we who have believed enter into that rest; just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” He’s just taking random quotations from the Old Testament.
Since therefore it remains for some to enter it (enter what? the Sabbath rest that he is talking about), and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as had been said before. “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” He is pointing out that there is a Chronological sequence in which these verses of Scripture are constantly repeated.
For if Joshua had given them rest (when Israel was facing Canaan, God swore, “They will not enter into My rest”), He would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Let us summarize what happened. It started way back there at creation with God resting on the seventh day. Then He said, “My people are going to enter into this Sabbath rest.” But they did not, and because of their disobedience, God swore in His wrath, “They will not enter My rest.”
This happened in the days of Joshua. In the days of David, God again said, “Today, enter in. Do not harden your hearts.” And they still missed it then. God promised a Sabbath rest for His people and in each age they missed it completely. But when God speaks a Word, it does not return to Him void. He gives a promise and some will enter into it.
There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.
Notice these two facts: Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. No one entered into the Sabbath rest in the past ages, but some people of God are going to take that promise and get into it. And I believe that we will be the ones to participate in it. That Sabbath rest is going to belong to us.
The keeping of the Sabbath should be not only predictive however; for if you believe that it is coming in the Kingdom, why not draw on it now? Never has there been such a troubled time in all the world for God’s people to walk before the Lord as now. Many are living with great anguish of heart. The dealings of the Lord are accelerating the things that you must walk in. God is dealing with your heart very drastically. In the midst of all of that, you find yourself becoming very troubled. Satan is trying to wear out the saints of the Most High, and often you may think he has just about worn you out, so that you cannot go on. That is the time you need to enter into the rest.
I encourage you to open your hearts to the Lord and say, “Lord, give me that rest.” The Sabbath is to be more than just a day; it is to be a spiritual experience, a marvelous rest that you enter into with all of your heart.
If you are weary and heavy-laden, the Lord is your Sabbath rest. Claim that for yourself. Claim an end of a lot of struggle and turmoil, of tension and pressure. Claim that end of despair and depression, of withdrawal and rebellion, or whatever it is that troubles your heart, and enter into His rest. Today hear His voice. If you will hear it, if you will not harden your heart, He will let you into that rest. It remains.
Today scientists have learned how to seed the clouds in order to bring rain. There is a cloud of blessing, the rest of the Lord, which remains for the people of the Lord. Many have taken a look at it. They have lifted up their heads from the routine things that sometimes were unbearable and said, “I’d like to get into that rest.” It has remained like a cloud full of blessing. And I suggest that you start seeding that cloud and let it rain on you. Someone is going to enter into it.
Zechariah 10:1 tells us: Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds. The phrase “bright clouds” used in the King James version is a rather poor translation. A better translation reads: “lightnings.” The Lord will make lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. Concerning any of the blessings promised in the Word that you have not claimed, let us believe the Lord in this day of latter rain, that He will make those lightnings, striking right through the clouds and upsetting them, so they begin to yield their blessing and pour it out upon you in a special way.
We need the Lord to pour His Spirit out upon us in a double portion. It is not as though we were seeking something that is not ours, for that provision has been waiting for a long time. I wonder how many packages in the dead-letter office of heaven are just waiting for someone to claim them. How many provisions has God made? How many prayers have you spoken and then run off before you received delivery? Do you put your order in and then say, “There must be some confusion up there”? Hang on. Believe the Lord.
This Book is filled with many promises and many provisions, including this great and glorious age that is ready to dawn upon us. It was all in the heart of God from the foundation of the world. We do not need to be discouraged, but I think there comes a time when there is a unique initiative of faith that belongs to certain people. They say, “Well, this is the time and I am a candidate. God has made the provision. There is no reason for me to believe that I am excluded from the fulfillment. I am going to have it,” and as they press in with all of their heart, they receive it in the name of the Lord.
The time has come to take the Kingdom. Do you believe it? It is true, the Kingdom has not fully come, but we will be partakers of the age to come in advance. With anticipation we reach out, even as Abraham of old. Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” and the Jews scoffed, “You are not yet fifty years old and You say You have seen Abraham?” Jesus told them, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day. He saw it and was glad.” How could he penetrate the veil of almost nineteen hundred years? He lived as long before Christ’s first coming as we have lived after it. How could he penetrate all of those centuries? I don’t know, but he did it. He walked with God with a faith that reached into an age when Christ was going to come. I think we can do the same thing.
I want to enter into that rest this very day. I think that the wear and tear on our bodies is going to be minimized after we get into that rest. The oil of the Spirit will lubricate your aging joints, my friend. If you want the rejuvenation, you must get into that rest. It is a kind of spiritual overdrive that God has for the people who labor and are heavy-laden with many cares. We cast our cares upon Him, but let us do more than that. Let us say, “Lord, rain upon us. Help us enter into that rest. Help us Lord.”
The Scripture is very plain. Hebrews 4:11 tells us: Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.
If you walk in disobedience or rebellion, you will be troubled much more. Oh, how you are going to be troubled. You will wonder how you can stand another day. God is going to deal with the iniquity of His people. On the other hand, if you press in and get into that rest, it will sustain you. There is no reason why we should walk in the ways of the flesh, why we should live in a state of semi-defeat and semi-victory. We can walk in that total victory. Just take His Word and let it be united in your heart with faith. Believe the Lord.
Are you going to pray for that rest? I think you could find it as real an experience as you are ever going to have or ever have had in this glorious walk—as real as speaking in tongues, or prophesying, or singing in the Spirit. The day is before us when one of the greatest testimonies will be seeing someone break into that rest. I think it is for all the people of God; and yet, like all collective blessings, it must be an individual experience. We have seen collective experiences such as the blessing on the day of Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius when they all spoke with tongues at the same time. But do not forget that it has to be an individual experience. I expect many of the people to break into it, one by one by one. The day will come when the rest of the Lord will come and simply fill the whole assembly, and people will enter into it.
I am concerned about the nerves and the troubling, about the pressure under which we live. I think God has an answer for it, and that is entering into this Sabbath rest in the name of the Lord.
I want to walk in it, because I have tasted it. It has come and gone upon my life many times during the past years of this walk. Why can’t it be a universal experience, that we all enter into it? I believe that it can be. If there is one testimony that would give confidence to the people who hear of this Walk, it would be to see people, even though they might be in the midst of spiritual warfare and conflict, resting completely in the Lord and in His perfect victory.
The spiritual battle is a reality, and we need the counterpart in His rest to take the pressure, to give us immunity from much of the conflict. We should be able to minimize it. I believe there is a level of victory that the rest of the Lord can give us. Let’s claim it and start praying for it. In our Sabbath services we will talk about the Kingdom continually, about our foretaste of it, about the way we will be dedicated to it, and the way we will walk in it.