I give up! Those are sweet words to the angels in heaven, who rejoice when a sinner is saved. Many times, until we give up God can't really begin to work in our lives.
I was reminded of this in a powerful way at Bible study tonight, where we studied from John 5 about a man whom Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. This man had been paralyzed for thirty eight years, presumably waiting much of this time for an angel to come and cure his paralysis.
Our teacher Gene Smith pointed out that there was another significant time of thirty eight years mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy.
"Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them." (Deuteronomy 2:14 NASB)
Gene thought that the Jews would recognize his thirty eight years of paralysis as a reference to the time that God denied Israel entry into the promised land due to their lack of faith. At that time the Israelites were paralyzed by fear. God told Moses that Israel must wander in the wilderness until every man of fighting age is dead.
Something in my spirit echoed this thought - thirty eight years is enough time for everything in us that wants to fight, to find our own solution, to use human strength instead of Godly power, is exhausted and dies.
The lame man at the pool of Bethesda had given up too. Perhaps his parents or some friends who had brought him here year after year for healing had finally given up, or perhaps they were just too old and lame to carry him there themselves. This man told Jesus he had no one to bring him to the pool when the angel stirred up the healing waters. The only known solution at that time had failed him, so when Jesus asked him if wanted to be healed, he could only offer an excuse why he couldn't be healed.
Now the miracle could begin. Now this man's heart was tender and open to a different kind of healing, not by balmy waters but by living water flowing through the healing hands of Jesus. Now the wall of human effort was down and the Spirit of God came crashing into his life when Jesus spoke the words, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."
Faith was born in his heart that day. Faith to defy the temple priests who stood ready to exile him for picking up his bed on the Sabbath. Faith to accept Jesus at his word, even in place of the "medicine men" of his day. Faith that was willing to look foolish in front of a large crowd that knew him from years of struggling in this place. Faith that expected a miracle and caused him to rise in obedience and receive the healing touch from Jesus.
Pastor Gene told an amazing story of evangelism and healing when he was traveling on a mission to Brazil. The testimony of healing in one of his mission services led to an opportunity to testify before the president of one of the regional provinces, resulting in many conversions inside the capitol building.
In third world countries miracles are much more common and expected than in the modern world. I think this is because the wall of human effort is already down. The people are already "poor in spirit" so faith finds an open door in their hearts. There is no human solution to their problems so they have to rely on the power of God. I spend most of my time planning and implementing my own solutions to my own problems. I think if I want to experience the true power of God I will need to let these "men of war" in my own life die.
Showing posts with label Sabbath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sabbath. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Holiness and the Sabbath
One of the things that I find difficult to reconcile between the Old Testament and the New Testament is the Sabbath. This was one of the fundamental tenets of the Law; the Sabbath is to be a holy day unto the Lord. The Sabbath rest is introduced in the very beginning of the Bible and it is one of the Ten Commandments. I ran into this quandary again today when I was reading Isaiah 56.
Thus says the LORD,
“Preserve justice and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.
“How blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who takes hold of it;
Who keeps from profaning the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
This theme of not profaning the Sabbath is repeated three times in Isaiah 56, even applying it to gentiles who come to the Lord.
“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD,
To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath
And holds fast My covenant;
Even those I will bring to My holy mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;
For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
When I was a child in Houston, I remember the world around me seemed to stop on Sundays. At that time (the 1960s) America was just getting started on its way to abandoning the Sabbath or "blue laws." Today in America you couldn't tell much difference between Sunday and any other day of the week. Most people still get weekends off from work (praise the Lord), but treat Sunday just like Saturday or any other day off from work.
So I had to stop and ask myself, how does this fundamental Old Testament law apply to Christians, or does it apply at all? First, the Sabbath as counted by the original keepers of the Sabbath occurs on Saturday. That immediately causes me concern about Sabbath legalism being applied to Sundays.
The apostles seemed to dismiss or even discourage observance of holy days, and even Christ seemed to intentionally violate Jewish traditions based on the Sabbath day, in order to challenge the religious establishment.
So, what can we learn from the principal of the Sabbath that applies to Christians? Well, first the principal of rest on the seventh day is built into our genetics by our Creator. This is a physical principal which we would do best to observe.
More importantly, just like our bodies need rest periodically, our spirits need refreshing periodically. The Sabbath, like the tithe, is a principal which pre-dates and exists outside the Law of Moses. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So we should use the Sabbath rest for its purpose, to re-unite our spirits with the Spirit of God, and re-unite our souls with our brethren in the Lord.
Most critical though, the Sabbath is a demonstration of the holiness of God. Profaning the Sabbath is really just making the Sabbath like any other day. There is another similar commandment right before the Sabbath law.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain."
Exodus 20:7 NASB
The first four commandments deal with the holiness of God. There have been teachings in America that bring God down to our level, as a friend or a brother. While it is true that God may present himself through Jesus as a fellow servant of God, we cannot presume to approach Him in that way. The first words in the Lord's prayer lift up the holiness of God.
I came across this in my study of the prophets.
He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by setting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger.
Ezekiel 43:7-8 NASB
It appears to me that the Jewish priests set up a room next to the holy place in the temple where they kept the remains of their kings. This reminds me of some churches I saw in Europe where they had the bones of dead saints right there in the sanctuary mixed in with images of Jesus. Certainly elevating saints to a level of worship is an abomination to God.
God may come down to our level, but we are not allowed to go up to His level or bring Him down to ours. If we make His throne in our lives just one of many, we profane His name. God's throne must be supreme; He will not share His glory with any other.
"I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images."
Isaiah 42:8 NASB
The early disciples called Sunday the "Lord's Day" and it was indeed a special day. We need not re-introduce the Law of Moses to make Sunday our Sabbath. Rather, I pray that I will remember to keep the Lord's day separate in some ways, to spend a little more time in prayer, to read a little more from His word, and maybe even write something honoring the Name of my Creator!
Thus says the LORD,
“Preserve justice and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.
“How blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who takes hold of it;
Who keeps from profaning the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
This theme of not profaning the Sabbath is repeated three times in Isaiah 56, even applying it to gentiles who come to the Lord.
“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD,
To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath
And holds fast My covenant;
Even those I will bring to My holy mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;
For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
When I was a child in Houston, I remember the world around me seemed to stop on Sundays. At that time (the 1960s) America was just getting started on its way to abandoning the Sabbath or "blue laws." Today in America you couldn't tell much difference between Sunday and any other day of the week. Most people still get weekends off from work (praise the Lord), but treat Sunday just like Saturday or any other day off from work.
So I had to stop and ask myself, how does this fundamental Old Testament law apply to Christians, or does it apply at all? First, the Sabbath as counted by the original keepers of the Sabbath occurs on Saturday. That immediately causes me concern about Sabbath legalism being applied to Sundays.
The apostles seemed to dismiss or even discourage observance of holy days, and even Christ seemed to intentionally violate Jewish traditions based on the Sabbath day, in order to challenge the religious establishment.
So, what can we learn from the principal of the Sabbath that applies to Christians? Well, first the principal of rest on the seventh day is built into our genetics by our Creator. This is a physical principal which we would do best to observe.
More importantly, just like our bodies need rest periodically, our spirits need refreshing periodically. The Sabbath, like the tithe, is a principal which pre-dates and exists outside the Law of Moses. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So we should use the Sabbath rest for its purpose, to re-unite our spirits with the Spirit of God, and re-unite our souls with our brethren in the Lord.
Most critical though, the Sabbath is a demonstration of the holiness of God. Profaning the Sabbath is really just making the Sabbath like any other day. There is another similar commandment right before the Sabbath law.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain."
Exodus 20:7 NASB
The first four commandments deal with the holiness of God. There have been teachings in America that bring God down to our level, as a friend or a brother. While it is true that God may present himself through Jesus as a fellow servant of God, we cannot presume to approach Him in that way. The first words in the Lord's prayer lift up the holiness of God.
I came across this in my study of the prophets.
He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by setting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger.
Ezekiel 43:7-8 NASB
It appears to me that the Jewish priests set up a room next to the holy place in the temple where they kept the remains of their kings. This reminds me of some churches I saw in Europe where they had the bones of dead saints right there in the sanctuary mixed in with images of Jesus. Certainly elevating saints to a level of worship is an abomination to God.
God may come down to our level, but we are not allowed to go up to His level or bring Him down to ours. If we make His throne in our lives just one of many, we profane His name. God's throne must be supreme; He will not share His glory with any other.
"I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images."
Isaiah 42:8 NASB
The early disciples called Sunday the "Lord's Day" and it was indeed a special day. We need not re-introduce the Law of Moses to make Sunday our Sabbath. Rather, I pray that I will remember to keep the Lord's day separate in some ways, to spend a little more time in prayer, to read a little more from His word, and maybe even write something honoring the Name of my Creator!
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