…for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
Exodus 31:13, NKJV
God tends not to give any gift or command without some sort commentary, even if it’s perhaps not as complete as we’d want. In giving the people of Israel the Sabbath command, He said it was a sign that He sanctifies them.
I’ve heard people say that the Sabbath existed as a sign of their sanctification back then, but was replaced by the Holy Spirit for Christians as the sign of sanctification.
But, personally, I think this isn’t what God meant at all. And that’s not what God wanted to tell them and us through the gift and command of the Sabbath. It’s a lot more beautiful than that.
As cliché as it is (because just about all Sabbath-related studies refer to the Creation), we’re going back to what God said about when He instituted the Sabbath. He’d just created everything on earth in six days, showing the awesomeness of His power, and His love: because it was then, that He created mankind, and gave us the gift of the earth and of fellowship with Him.
I think it is very significant that the concept of time-sacredness is associated with creative power. It presents His authority to name something holy. It was He who “blessed and sanctified” the Sabbath because He had finished creating (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:11). He shows that He could do that because He could create the entire world and all that’s in it.
So, regardless of what we do, we can’t really make the Sabbath holy. We can only “keep” it holy; that is, to accept that it is holy, regardless of what we do. No matter what, God still has the authority to name something holy; we either choose to accept His authority and power, or we choose to profane it.
To me… God’s words in Exodus 31:13 remind me of another passage:
Ephesians 2:8 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2: 9 – not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
It’s a wonderful lesson God wants to give us. Paul says that we can’t save ourselves: it’s all God, it’s all His strength, His grace. But, Paul doesn’t end there. He said we’re created for good works in Christ Jesus. So, even though nothing we do can save us – even though, all our righteousness is like filthy rags before the pure and beautiful God (Isaiah 64:6) – we still show the acceptance of this grace by what we do.
James 2:17-18 is hard for a lot of us to understand, but it’s very applicable here. He wrote that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” and brings to us the idea of “show[ing our] faith by what [we] do.”
And there is the relation to what God said about the meaning of the Sabbath. The same God who had the power to create the world, to create mankind, has the power to make us holy just as He did with the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a sign that He alone is “mighty to save” (Zephaniah 3:17), that it is His action, His grace that sanctifies us, sets us apart for salvation. It’s God that’s saved us.This brings us to the “for we were created for good works” part of Exodus 31: “You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore.” God presents Sabbath-keeping here the same way He does “good works” in Paul’s letter. The way to accept His power to sanctify as typified in the Sabbath is to honour the Sabbath’s sacredness; that is, to honour the sacredness that God gave it. In doing so, we accept God’s power to sanctify us.
Of course, I don’t think that’s irrelevant to New Covenant believers in this God. It’s so reminiscent of the messages of the rites that just about everyone who says “Jesus” practise. The Passover lives on representing the accepting of Jesus’ body and blood as bread and wine (Luke 22:15-20) and baptism represents the believers’ accepting of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-7). None of these three rites sanctify those people who embrace what they represent. Each of them highlight a different aspect of His gift of salvation.
(You may know it as the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Nothing’s wrong with calling it that; but Jesus called it Passover.)
Some people call baptism a public declaration of our acceptance of God’s sacrifice. So, they tend to have very public baptisms with many people around to witness. But, I disagree. Phillip had not called a large gathering to baptize the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:38). I believe receiving baptism is our declaration to God; we need only two or three witnesses to verify it to other people (Deu 19:15): you and the person who baptizes you.
Same with the Sabbath. Though it involves sacred assembly (Leviticus 23:3), it is very personal. It’s saying to God that you accept His power, His grace. We accept His power to create the earth and to name something (someone) holy, saved.
Isn’t He an awesome God?
All Bible quotations taken from the NKJV.
Exodus 31:13, NKJV
God tends not to give any gift or command without some sort commentary, even if it’s perhaps not as complete as we’d want. In giving the people of Israel the Sabbath command, He said it was a sign that He sanctifies them.
I’ve heard people say that the Sabbath existed as a sign of their sanctification back then, but was replaced by the Holy Spirit for Christians as the sign of sanctification.
But, personally, I think this isn’t what God meant at all. And that’s not what God wanted to tell them and us through the gift and command of the Sabbath. It’s a lot more beautiful than that.
As cliché as it is (because just about all Sabbath-related studies refer to the Creation), we’re going back to what God said about when He instituted the Sabbath. He’d just created everything on earth in six days, showing the awesomeness of His power, and His love: because it was then, that He created mankind, and gave us the gift of the earth and of fellowship with Him.
I think it is very significant that the concept of time-sacredness is associated with creative power. It presents His authority to name something holy. It was He who “blessed and sanctified” the Sabbath because He had finished creating (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:11). He shows that He could do that because He could create the entire world and all that’s in it.
So, regardless of what we do, we can’t really make the Sabbath holy. We can only “keep” it holy; that is, to accept that it is holy, regardless of what we do. No matter what, God still has the authority to name something holy; we either choose to accept His authority and power, or we choose to profane it.
To me… God’s words in Exodus 31:13 remind me of another passage:
Ephesians 2:8 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2: 9 – not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
It’s a wonderful lesson God wants to give us. Paul says that we can’t save ourselves: it’s all God, it’s all His strength, His grace. But, Paul doesn’t end there. He said we’re created for good works in Christ Jesus. So, even though nothing we do can save us – even though, all our righteousness is like filthy rags before the pure and beautiful God (Isaiah 64:6) – we still show the acceptance of this grace by what we do.
James 2:17-18 is hard for a lot of us to understand, but it’s very applicable here. He wrote that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” and brings to us the idea of “show[ing our] faith by what [we] do.”
And there is the relation to what God said about the meaning of the Sabbath. The same God who had the power to create the world, to create mankind, has the power to make us holy just as He did with the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a sign that He alone is “mighty to save” (Zephaniah 3:17), that it is His action, His grace that sanctifies us, sets us apart for salvation. It’s God that’s saved us.This brings us to the “for we were created for good works” part of Exodus 31: “You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore.” God presents Sabbath-keeping here the same way He does “good works” in Paul’s letter. The way to accept His power to sanctify as typified in the Sabbath is to honour the Sabbath’s sacredness; that is, to honour the sacredness that God gave it. In doing so, we accept God’s power to sanctify us.
Of course, I don’t think that’s irrelevant to New Covenant believers in this God. It’s so reminiscent of the messages of the rites that just about everyone who says “Jesus” practise. The Passover lives on representing the accepting of Jesus’ body and blood as bread and wine (Luke 22:15-20) and baptism represents the believers’ accepting of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-7). None of these three rites sanctify those people who embrace what they represent. Each of them highlight a different aspect of His gift of salvation.
(You may know it as the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Nothing’s wrong with calling it that; but Jesus called it Passover.)
Some people call baptism a public declaration of our acceptance of God’s sacrifice. So, they tend to have very public baptisms with many people around to witness. But, I disagree. Phillip had not called a large gathering to baptize the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:38). I believe receiving baptism is our declaration to God; we need only two or three witnesses to verify it to other people (Deu 19:15): you and the person who baptizes you.
Same with the Sabbath. Though it involves sacred assembly (Leviticus 23:3), it is very personal. It’s saying to God that you accept His power, His grace. We accept His power to create the earth and to name something (someone) holy, saved.
Isn’t He an awesome God?
All Bible quotations taken from the NKJV.
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