Leviticus chapter 23, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus. Before I read our text here,
I want to remind us of two New Testament scriptures. The first
one is in Galatians chapter three, wherefore the law That's what
we're reading tonight. We're reading in part of the
law that was given by God to the nation of Israel at Mount
Sinai. And the apostle Paul here in
Galatians chapter three tells us, wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster. And that word schoolmaster is
a pedagogue. And it's a little bit stronger
maybe than just a teacher, as we would think of a teacher in
a classroom. A man would commit his child
to a pedagogue and he would train that child, teach the child,
yes, but train that child, take that child really to instruct. And a little bit more than just
going to school every day, this person would actually have control
over the student, the child. And that's what the Apostle Paul
tells us that the law was. It was a schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ, to bring us unto Christ. that we might be justified
by faith. But after that faith has come,
now listen, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Once faith has come and we trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we're no longer
under that schoolmaster, that law. Now the law served the nation
of Israel and it serves men to convict us of sin, but the law
was never given to give life. It never was. The apostle said,
if there had been a law that could have given life, then life
would have come by the law. But there's nothing wrong with
the law. We know that. Romans chapter
seven, the apostle said, the law is holy. It's God's law,
it's holy, it's just, it's good. But the problem, of course, is
with fallen man, not having the ability to obey the law, to keep
the law as the law requires perfect, absolute obedience in everything,
every day, every minute of the day. It was a schoolmaster. to bring us unto Christ that
we might be justified by faith. The second scripture I wanted
to mention, that's found in Galatians chapter three, but this one in
Hebrews chapter 10 in verse one, for the law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of the things. The law having a shadow, now
we know a shadow comes, but the shadow is not the body. You know,
the sun shining across the body makes a shadow, but the shadow
is not the body. And the law had a shadow of good
things to come. That's what it was. It was a
shadow, but it wasn't really the good things that God gives
unto his people. And the title of my message tonight
is A Shadow. A Shadow. In this chapter, chapter
23 of Leviticus, Moses was given the commandments of God in the
law to give to the nation of Israel several shadows. And these shadows here are called
holy convocations and feasts. Let's read the first four verses.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them concerning the feast of the Lord,
which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these
are my feasts. Six days shall work be done,
but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest in holy convocation. You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord
in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord,
even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons."
And there are several of these feasts and holy convocations
that are listed here in this chapter. The convocation, of course, was
when the people would come together to worship, to worship the Lord,
to read the law, and to offer prayers unto God. And they are
called feasts, but we know that one of these people didn't eat
on the great day of atonement. It's one of the last, it is the
last feast that's mentioned here in this chapter, but people were
commanded to fast on that day. but it still refers to as a feast. Now, three of these feasts, these
feasts are listed, not all of them, but some of them are listed
in Exodus chapter 34. And three of them, God gave this
command concerning three of these feasts. Shall all your men children
appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. In other words,
Each year there were three feasts and God required all of the men,
all of the male in the nation to observe this feast. And he
gave this law when they were in the wilderness and God had
not set the place yet. It wasn't until they came into
the land of Canaan that God designated the place where his name was
to be worshipped, and that was, of course, eventually in Jerusalem. And three times every year, all
of the men had to leave their farms and their houses and their
wives and their children and go to the place where God had
determined to observe these holy convocations and feast. And that
very fact shows us A wonderful truth about God. It shows us
his absolute control over the hearts of every person. You know, we quote quite often,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the water brooks,
he turneth it withersoever he will. But it's not just the king's
heart that is in the hand of the Lord. Everyone's heart is
in the hand of the Lord. And God, now these, think of
this, of the nation of Israel and the land of Canaan, and they're
surrounded by enemies. They're surrounded by nations
that hated them and would love to come in and take over their
property, their farms and their houses. But God promised them
that when these men left their homes and went to the place to
worship, to keep these feasts, that God would so work in the
hearts of all the men, the neighboring nations, enemies, that they wouldn't
desire their houses, their farms at that time. It reads like this. Neither shall any man desire
thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy
God thrice in the year. We serve a great God. The God
of the Bible is not some wannabe God. The God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ is a great, all-powerful being. To think
of the fact that he could promise this nation that when they obeyed
him, that he would make sure that their properties and their
families would be safe when they left to come to these holy feasts
or holy convocations and feasts. Now tonight, we're only going
to look at the first one. The first feast, which was the
weekly Sabbath. Notice that in verse three, six
days shall work be done But the seventh day is the Sabbath of
rest and holy convocation. You shall do no work therein.
It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. This was to be observed, you
see, wherever they lived, in all your dwellings. Three of
the feasts had to be observed in Jerusalem once they got into
the land. Holy Convocation, this feast,
the weekly Sabbath, it was to be observed in all your dwellings,
wherever they lived, they were to worship the Lord on the Sabbath
day. Now I want to point out five
things about the Sabbath, and I'll be brief, the Lord willing. First of all, the meaning of
the word Sabbath. Let's make sure we all understand,
I assume that we do, but let's make sure we all understand what
that word Sabbath means. It means rest or intermission. A person is working and there's
an intermission between his work on the sixth day and he begins
work again on the first day. But he's got a day in between,
which is an intermission. It's a rest. That's what the
word actually means. It means rest. The word, the
Hebrew word, which is translated here, rest or Sabbath rather,
is the same or comes from the same root word that we see in
Genesis chapter two and verse two concerning God Almighty and
His creating work. The scripture says, and on the
seventh day, the seventh day, God ended His work, which He
had made and He rested. He wasn't tired. He wasn't tired. His work of creation was ended. But he rested. That's the same
word, comes from the same root word that we have here in our
text, Sabbath. 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. The seventh day of the
week, has always been the Sabbath day. Always. The seventh day
of the week. Because God desisted from His
work, rested from His work of creation on the seventh day. So we're all aware of what the
word Sabbath means. It means rest. That's what it
means. It's very simple. It means rest. The second thing, the Sabbath
was a sign. And I really believe this is
something that many people miss. But the Sabbath day, this commandment
to observe this feast, this holy convocation on the seventh day
every week, it was a sign between God Almighty and the nation of
Israel. Look with me, keep your places
here, but turn back with me to Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31, and let me begin reading in verse
12 and read through verse 18. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
Exodus chapter 31 and verse 12, and the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying,
Verily my sabbath ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and
you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the
Lord that doth sanctify you. You shall keep the sabbath therefore,
for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall
surely be put to death, For whosoever doeth any work therein, that
soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work
be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to
the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the
Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. And before I
read on, let me just mention this. Do any work, you couldn't
even light a fire on the Sabbath. I remember when we used to have
a program on televisions, a person called me one day and trying
to convince me that we were under the law and keeping the Sabbath
and all that. And I said, well, it was winter
time. I said, do you run the heat in
your house during these days? And she said, yeah, it's cold.
I said, well, that breaks the Sabbath. You can't start a fire. You can't do any work on the
Sabbath. That's what God said. It was,
well, let me read verse 16. Wherefore, the children of Israel
shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their
generations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the
children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. And he gave unto Moses when he
had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two
tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger
of God. You see, this was part of the
law a law that God gave to the nation of Israel through Moses
on Mount Sinai. And two times, you may not have
noticed that, but two times in those verses, God said, this
is a sign. And sign between who? He said,
between me and the children of Israel. This is a sign. between
me and the children of Israel, and it's part of the covenant,
a covenant which was represented by those two tables of stone. Remember, they were put in the
Ark of the Covenant. The Jews, the Jewish people,
descendants, natural descendants of Abraham, they have always
been distinguished. No matter where they lived in
this world, they have always been distinguished by the seventh
day Sabbath. It was a sign that God gave them. And it carried a death penalty
if you broke it. And we know from the scripture
that there was a case when they were there in the wilderness,
they found a man out gathering sticks on the Sabbath. And they
put him in ward, remember, and they asked God just to make sure
they understood, I guess, the law. And God said, yeah, he's
to be put to death. He's to be stoned. He disobeyed
God's law. And so they stoned him. So, first
of all, the meaning of the word Sabbath, rest. Second, a sign
between God and Israel. Third, the Sabbath was a shadow. It was a type. Let's turn in
the New Testament and see how the Apostle Paul deals with this. In Colossians, Colossians chapter
two. And not only was there the seventh
day Sabbath, but remember there was also the yearly Sabbath,
the seven year Sabbath. There was a 49th year and the
50th year Sabbath, the year of Jubilee. But here in Colossians chapter
two and verses 16 and 17. Well, let me begin with verse 14. Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. What is the handwriting of ordinance?
It's that law. It was against us because we
were guilty blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat." Remember the law, there were certain dietary a certain
dietary part of the law. You couldn't eat certain meat.
Paul said, let no man judge you in meat or in drink or, now notice,
in respect of an holy day or of the new moon. And that began
a new month. Evidently, the nation of Israel
had two calendars. They had a religious calendar
And they had a civil calendar. And the religious calendar began
with a new moon every month, a new moon. And that was a holy
day. And it was one of these holy
convocations. But Paul, that's all done away
with, in other words. Those were shadows. Look, are
of the Sabbath days. And here's the important word,
which are a shadow of things to come. but the body is of Christ. That's the reason we refer to
Christ as our Sabbath. Not a day in the year, not a
certain day in the week, but no, Christ is our Sabbath. Christ is our rest. There's a
word in Isaiah chapter 11 which goes like this. It's a prophecy,
actually, and it's in verse 10. The prophet said, and in that
day there shall be a root of Jesse. Now, Jesse was the dad
of David, the Messiah that's referred to as a root, and he's
the root and offspring of David. That's how he identifies himself
in Revelation 22, I believe it is. But there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people." You know, armies, they have their
banners, don't they? And not so much anymore in war,
but those banners, the colors they held up, and that way the
men, no matter where they were fighting on the field, they could
see their regiment, where they were supposed to be. Well, Christ
is represented here as an ensign or as a flag or banner, maybe
would be a better word, ensign of the people. Now listen,
to it shall the Gentiles seek. That's you and I. To him shall
the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be His rest, the rest that Christ
gives to burden sinners, heavy laden sinners. He said, come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give
you rest. He is our Sabbath. He is our
Sabbath. We come to him for spiritual
rest. He took our burden of sin and And not only our burden of sin,
but the bondage that we were in. The law had us bound up,
demanding that we pay everything that we owed. We didn't have
anything to pay with. But Christ paid our debt. Christ gives us deliverance.
Christ is our rest. Christ is our Sabbath. The Sabbath
was a shadow, a picture. The law had a shadow of good
things to come. Oh, this is something good that
came, isn't it? This rest that we have in Christ. The rest, the spiritual rest,
first of all, is peace. We have peace with God. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. When we
lay our heads down on our pillows tonight, we know it's well. If we're children of God, if
we're in Christ, we know it's well with our soul. Why? Because
God is our Father, because Christ is our substitute. We have peace. Not only peace, but we have joy. We have joy knowing that Christ
is all our salvation. And we have comfort that comes
by His blood, by His blood and by His righteousness. And besides
His spiritual rest, we know there's an eternal rest yet that awaits
us. And that rest, of course, is
in the world to come when we go to be with the Lord. Now,
the fourth thing about this I wanted to mention tonight, the Lord
Jesus Christ lived under the law. He was made under the law
and that law, as we've seen, commanded the keeping of the
Sabbath. On one occasion, you will remember
the Lord's disciples were, it was a Sabbath day and they were
walking through a field and I think it was wheat and they plucked
some wheat and they rubbed it in their hands and they ate that
wheat because they were hungry. And the Pharisees came and accused
the disciples of the Lord to Christ. They broke the Sabbath.
They've broken the Sabbath. And another time, you remember,
our Lord went into a synagogue, and this story always amazes
me. There's a woman in this synagogue
that had been bent over for 18 years. That almost makes me weep when
I say that. Bent over 18 years, she had always
been looking at the ground. And the Lord, there was those
Pharisees looking on to see if he would heal on the Sabbath
day so they could accuse him. And of course, he did heal her.
He did loose her, didn't he? And then he said, you hypocrites.
You have a donkey at your house, and you're not ashamed to take
it to water on a Sabbath day, to loose it, take it out of its
stall, and lead it to a water trough. And here's this woman,
this child of Abraham, this daughter of Abraham. She's been bound
for 18 years, and you accuse me of breaking the Sabbath day. Our Lord kept the Sabbath, but
remember he also said the Sabbath was made for man and not man
for the Sabbath. And these religious Pharisees
and hypocrites, they had bound so many laws and rules trying
to observe the Sabbath, but the spirit of the Sabbath They were
hard-hearted and they just assumed that woman just continue on like
that. That's what religion can do for
you. Really and truthfully, that's what religion can do for a person. Make you so self-righteous that
you look down on everybody and judge everyone. But I tell you,
Salvation will make you love people and have mercy and pity
on other people, right? Pray for other people, desire
other people's good. But just to do something outwardly when the
heart is not engaged. The Lord Jesus, as I said, he
was under the law, made under the law, made of a woman, made
under the law. And think about it, it was his
law. He's the one who gave the law. It was his law. And yet he obeyed that law perfectly,
perfectly in every jot and every tittle. Yes. And in obeying the
law as he did, he, he worked out a righteousness. And that
righteousness is upon everyone that believes. Everyone. The last thing, the fifth thing
I wanted to mention is that Christians, they quickly change this day
from the seventh day to the first day of the week to be their day
of worship. You know, in the book of Acts,
it is a transitionary time there. And at first they would go to
the synagogue, to the temple on the Sabbath day, no doubt,
maybe on the first day too, but it's certainly on the Sabbath
day. But because of persecution, because even Paul, remember when
he went to Jerusalem, when he was arrested and was sent to
Rome, eventually it was because he was in the, in the temple.
I mean, it wasn't like on the day of Pentecost, the Christian
just walked off and had nothing more to do with the temple or
the law, the worship as the law had told. It was a process as
they learned and the Spirit of God taught them. But it wasn't
long, because we read in Acts chapter 20, these words, and
upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together
to break bread, Paul preached unto them the first day of the
week. And also in 1 Corinthians chapter
16, Paul wrote, Now concerning the collection for the saints,
as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so
do you on the first day of the week. Let every one of you lay
by him in store as God has prospered him. So my point is, yes, at
first they continued to, the Christians did, the believers,
to try to worship in the temple and no doubt on the Sabbath day,
but it wasn't long because of persecution, they were separated.
And we have several writings from the second century A.D. of Christian preachers that enforce
this. I just want to quote one, a man
by the name of Ignatius. He was Bishop of Antioch and
he lived in the A.D. 100 and something. This is what he wrote, those
who walked in the ancient practices attain unto newness of hope,
no longer observing Sabbaths, but fashioning their lives after
the Lord's day on which our life also rose through him. that we
may be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher. So the Sabbath, a holy convocation,
a feast day. The Lord willing, I hope to be
able to go through that chapter and look at some of the other
feasts that we have. But remember, they're all shadows,
aren't they? shadows of good things to come, and all those
good things are wrapped up in Christ. He that hath the Son
hath everything. He that hath not the Son, no
matter what else he has, has nothing. Let us sing a hymn before
we're dismissed.