Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The Scriptures reveal Christ
and His work of redemption from the very beginning of Genesis
to its last Amen in the book of the Revelation. The account
of creation is not given so that we might have ammunition with
which to argue with the evolutionists and others who wander in the
darkness of human understanding. Rather, the work of creation
is a summary of the unfolding of God's purpose in and for the
earth and demonstrates His perfection in the completion of that purpose
with the redemption of sinners as His crowning achievement.
All theories of men concerning this creation fall short of truth
if this basic concept is ignored. In the same fashion, it is impossible
that a man can have a right understanding of the giving of the law to Moses
and its function if he is not given a mind to comprehend the
completion of that law in Christ. We read that God rested on the
seventh day. Now, I don't suppose this means
that he got out his rocking chair, took his shoes off, and began
sipping on a nice cool glass of lemonade. Rather, it means
that he fully completed the creation exactly as he wished it to be.
And God saw everything that he made, and behold, it was very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus
he set forth the concept of the Sabbath day in this fashion.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and
he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had
made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because
that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made. The Jews were given a carnal
commandment to remember this day in stark solemnity. They
demonstrated their own spiritual darkness as they only could see
the outward sign in the keeping of this day, even as many Jews
and Gentiles alike still do in the present hour. They had no
understanding of that which Christ made plain in his many disputes
with the Pharisees concerning the keeping of this day. And
he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man
for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord
also of the Sabbath. In like fashion as the Lord instituted
the taking of bread and the cup as a remembrance of His death
until He comes again, so too did He institute the Sabbath
as a precursor to that event in order to demonstrate the complete
work which He alone could and did perform. The error of the
Jews and the perpetrators of carnal Sabbath-keeping is that
the sign is made, in their mind, to be an end in itself rather
than recognizing the purpose of it in the first place. The
bread and the cup are mere signs of that which Christ has done,
and are not in themselves to be revered. In the same fashion,
one day out of the week is not to be revered either, for it
is given to men to remind them of his finished work, wherein
he has done all things well. Now this is not to say that there
are not great benefits which are derived from the rest of
the body on a weekly basis, or the setting aside of a day which
is primarily given to the gathering with the saints. We remember
that He said the Sabbath is made for man. It is not healthy for
the body or the mind to work seven days a week, much less
for the spiritual man to neglect that which the Lord prescribes
for his good. We see this carnal principle repeated not only in
the prohibition of labor on the seventh day, but in the institution
of seven years related to letting land lay fallow, and the ultimate
seven sevens in the year of Jubilee. So we do not deny that these
benefits exist and that a man acts foolishly who disregards
this principle. Yet the primary purpose in the
institution of the Sabbath, which has been and always will be the
seventh day of the week, was not to focus attention on the
requirement of it, but to minister blessing to those who are enabled
to see the great mercy of God in the giving of it. The end
of which is that we might be reminded that just as He rested
from His labor in creation, so too has Christ rested from His
finished work of redemption. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God, for he that is entered into his rest,
as God did from his." It is this rest which the sons of God long
for and desire. They cannot find it on a calendar
or in a date book. Their rest is not enhanced by
those who argue for a change of this day from the seventh
to the first, regardless of whatever entrenched culture or custom
might be cited. By grace I've found a resting
place, not in device nor creed. I trust the Ever-Living One.
His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.