SANCTIFICATION

"For by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Heb10:14)

Devotion 2 of 16

GOD SANCTIFIES THE SABBATH DAY

At the very threshold of revelation, we read of sanctification. God Himself did the sanctifying, placing an identity upon a day that has never been duplicated. That day was the Sabbath, and it stands for the completion of an objective. "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" (Gen 2:3). Note, He did not rest from all Divine activity, but from "all His work which God created and made." He finished the project!

Some affirm the Sabbath day is still binding upon people. Citing this passage of Scripture, together with those within the Mosaic code, they conclude that God intended this to be a day of perpetual universal observance. His intent in sanctifying the seventh day, however, was not to mandate its observance by all men everywhere. If this were the case, Adam would have been instructed to honor the day by remaining idle on the seventh. The generations from Adam to Moses would also have been directed to observe this day. But this is not the case. No mention is made of honoring the seven day--or of the seventh day itself--from Adam to Moses. As law, Sabbath observance was first mentioned when Israel was delivered from Egypt Ex 12:15-16).

The truth conveyed in the sanctification of the seventh day pertains primarily to Divine purpose, not law. In it, God proclaims the completion of an objective. In the case of creation, He completed the environment in which the drama of redemption would be wrought. When the heavens and earth were completed, the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose was under way. The world, in other words, was not created until after God's purpose had been determined. This is the reason for the following Scriptural phrases. " . . . I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matt 13:35). "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt 25:34). "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (Eph 1:4). "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world" (Heb 4:3). "Who (Jesus) verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1 Pet 1:20). " . . . the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8).

The first sabbath pointed to this grand objective, but was not itself the fulfillment of it. Even though, for example, Israel kept the Sabbath under the threat of death, they never really entered into God's rest, or sabbath. Thus it is written, "For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His" (Heb 4:8-10). The real sabbath has not been entered into until men cease from their own works by faith in Christ. As it is written, "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world" (Heb 4:3).

PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You that through the Lord Jesus Christ I can believe, and cease from efforts to establish my own righteousness, thereby entering into Your rest. receive my praise for this through You Son.

-- TOMORROW: THE SANCTIFICATION OF THINGS --