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Scripture Reading: Exo. 31:12-17
Exodus 25:1—31:11 contains the revelation of God to Moses concerning all the matters of the tabernacle and its service. Immediately following this is God’s further word on the Sabbath. Since God’s word on the Sabbath was written as the conclusion of all the revelations in the preceding chapters, it must surely be significant. In Genesis 1, after all things had been created in six days, there was the Sabbath on the seventh day. In the same way, after all things were revealed to Moses concerning the Lord’s work and the services of the tabernacle, the Lord reminded the people of Israel to keep the Sabbath. After all the divine work there is the Sabbath.
We must consider the principle and the meaning of the Sabbath. For six days God worked in creation. After God had done everything and all things were completed, accomplished, and finished, He kept the Sabbath. Therefore, the Sabbath is the result of God’s work. In this result, that is, on the Sabbath day, God rested. Exodus 31:17 says, “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” God not only needs to rest but also to be refreshed. The result of the divine work, which is the Sabbath, was that God could rest and refresh Himself. This result was an enjoyment for God, and God rejoiced in this result.
After we have finished a certain work, we then enjoy it. This is especially true with the sisters who cook. After they have done everything in their kitchen, they sit down at the table and enjoy what they have done. The table is the “Sabbath” to them. They sit there, enjoy it, and are refreshed. However, after a mother has finished her cooking, she does not go to the table by herself. She goes to the table with her children. The table is not an enjoyment to her alone; it is an enjoyment to her with her children. Without her children she could not rest. Even though the cooking is completed and the whole table is prepared, could a proper mother sit down, eat well, and enjoy rest and refreshment if her children were missing? The table is not for the mother alone but is for her and her children. On the first Sabbath day, after the conclusion of the creation, God did not rest alone. All creation rested with Him, and God especially rested with the man He created.
To God the Sabbath was the seventh day. To man, however, the Sabbath was the first day. Man was the final item of God’s creation and was created on the sixth day, probably toward the end of the sixth day. Therefore, immediately after man had been created, he entered into the Sabbath. All the divine work was done by God. Nothing was done by man. Therefore, the Sabbath is the result of the divine work and is the rest to God with man. Man’s obligation to God is not to work but to enjoy. The obligation of the work has been borne by God already. God’s portion is to work and enjoy, but man’s portion is simply to enjoy.
However, after the enjoyment there is a further work. After Adam had been created by God, he entered into the Sabbath, the first day to him, to rest and to enjoy. But after that day he began to work, to till the ground (Gen. 2:15). With God, work is first and enjoyment is second. With man, enjoyment is first and work is second. This is the vision of the principle of grace. God did the work and then enjoyed. We enjoy what God has done; then we work.
Not only with creation but also with redemption it is the same. The Lord has accomplished everything for redemption. After the completion of His redemption the Lord enjoyed the result. The Lord worked first and enjoyed later. We, however, enjoy first and work later. Concerning redemption and grace, we have nothing to do. Everything is finished. We simply enter into the Lord’s accomplishment and have our rest. To receive the gospel is to enter into the work that the Lord has finished. Take it as the Sabbath, as your rest, and enjoy it with the Lord. But after you enjoy it, you have to bear some obligation to work. After our enjoyment we should offer ourselves to the Lord to do His work.
The result of God’s work, especially in redemption, is Christ Himself. Christ is the Sabbath, and the Sabbath day typifies Christ. Therefore, when the Lord came in the flesh, He abolished the old Sabbath day (Matt. 12:1-12). God can rest and be refreshed only in Christ, with Christ, and with the redeemed ones. Without us to enjoy His rest, to be refreshed together with God, God cannot rest and be refreshed. The parable in Luke 15:11-32 indicates that without the prodigal son returning home, the father could not rest at his table to enjoy the feast. The father’s table in Luke 15 is the Sabbath to the father and to the son. But without the son, the father could not rest and enjoy the table. That table is Christ Himself, for upon that table was the slain, fattened calf (v. 23), signifying the rich Christ (Eph. 3:8) killed on the cross for the believers’ enjoyment. The Sabbath is Christ as the result of the divine work, especially in redemption. God enjoys resting and being refreshed in Christ and with Christ with all the redeemed ones. We, as the redeemed ones, as the spiritual Israel (Gal. 6:16), have to realize that everything has been accomplished by God. Nothing was done by us. We must now enter into God’s accomplishment and refresh ourselves with God.
If we attempt to do what God has accomplished, we will bring in death. Exodus 31:15 says, “Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.” The Sabbath is the result of God’s work. You must keep your hand off of this work. Stop yourself. Do not do anything but simply appreciate, adore, praise, and receive Christ as your Sabbath.
Enjoy Christ and rest and refresh yourself with God, in Christ and with Christ, in His all-inclusive work. Then God will be pleased with you. Otherwise, you will bring in death. Death means that you are cut off from God as your portion and from the enjoyment of what God has done.
We have pointed out that the principle of the Sabbath is that God works first and then enjoys what He has done, but man first enjoys what God is and what God has accomplished, and then he is enabled to work. It is not that we work first and then have the enjoyment but that we enjoy first and then work. This is the principle of grace, to receive salvation first and then work with and by this salvation.
Certain Christians, according to their natural concept, insist on keeping the Old Testament Sabbath, the seventh day. Actually, to keep the Sabbath according to the Old Testament is to observe it from Friday evening to Saturday evening and to abstain even from cooking meals (35:2-3). To practice this in the New Testament times is foolish. The significance of keeping the seventh day is that one works first and then has the Sabbath. But we, as believers in the New Testament times, have the Lord’s Day first, and then we go to work. From a child I understood the Sunday of Christianity to be the seventh day. We called Monday the first day of the week, and Sunday was the seventh day, the “Sabbath.” Later, the Lord pointed out to me that Sunday is not the last day of the seven days. The Lord’s Day is the first day of the seven days. The week in the New Testament begins with the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day to us is not a day of pleasure or recreation but a day of enjoying the Lord and serving Him. The term Sunday is a pagan name, a name related to idol worship. But to us the first day is the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10) because the Lord resurrected on this day (Matt. 28:1-6). It is not only the first day, but it is also the eighth day. The Lord passed through “one week” to accomplish redemption, and we receive what the Lord has accomplished on the eighth day, the day of resurrection, which is the first day of the week. This means that we began as Christians in the principle of resurrection.
According to the principle of salvation, we first come to enjoy the Lord and what He has accomplished. This is our Sabbath, our rest. At the conclusion of all the revelations concerning the tabernacle and the service, the Sabbath is mentioned. This is a sign to signify that God has taken care of all the work. There is nothing left for man to do. What man is obligated to do is to rest with God and enjoy what God has accomplished. Then after we have enjoyed, we work for God with what we have enjoyed. The grace enables us to serve the Lord.
