(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)
When people celebrate significant events, they often want to remember them, even preserve them in some way, and technology can make that possible.
The exodus from Egypt moved the Israelites from bondage to freedom. They no longer served those who enslaved them; they now served the one who redeemed them. Before the exodus, God's specific expectations were relatively few and usually directed to a general audience, such as what He said to Noah in...
XLI. The Foremost Convocation2
...which sets aside each week...
A defining feature in any society is the holidays it observes, because those periods often have some historical, cultural, or spiritual significance. For Israelite society, the Sabbath is a holiday whose significance extends to several areas, all having some connection to the nation's God. Scripture preserves at least four reasons why the Sabbath is important for Israel. The most familiar reasons appear in the two versions of the Ten Commandments.
From the first version of the Decalogue, in Exod 20, the Israelites learn that...
From the second version of the Decalogue, in Deut 5, the Israelites learn that...
Besides marking God's creation and redemption, other passages in Exodus note other reasons why the Sabbath is significant for Israel. In Exod 16...
This survey explains the Sabbath's significance for the people of God but not its observance, how the Lord expects them to keep it. Lev 23:3 helps fill the gap with information that Jews, to whom God gave the Sabbath, as well as gentiles who have accepted God's invitation to keep the Sabbath, must heed.9 Moses calls it "a day of sacred assembly [and] a Sabbath to the LORD," indicating that...
Some people, including some who claim to keep the Sabbath, view it as an interruption in their schedule (Wenham 1979:301), preventing them from doing what they want to do. That is, indeed, how God intends it, as a disruption in their normal routine to make people pause, turn from themselves, and turn to Him.
Are we missing an opportunity here? ...What struck me as I studied this verse was the difference between what it says and what we do. Follow along as I reread (and revise) the first part of...
Are we missing an opportunity? While we may not be ready to do what our Jamaican Seventh Day Baptist brethren do and make every Sabbath an all-day affair, perhaps we should consider it occasionally, once a month or every other month. That was the aspiration when we bought the house near the church: to spend more of our Sabbath day together. If you are too busy for "a day of sacred assembly," you need to review your purpose and revise your priority. You are rejecting one of God's benefits, because...
There was a time when those who viewed Sunday as the Christian Sabbath had a strict view about how they should observe the day and regarded certain activities as inappropriate on what they held to be the Lord's Day.10 Going shopping or attending sporting events, for example, were not suitable for time devoted to God. With the abolition of Sunday Blue Laws and a general relaxing of Christian standards, activities once avoided have became acceptable on the day most Christians set aside for the Lord.
Wholly apart from the legitimacy of viewing Sunday as special, a position unsupported by scripture, this general change in attitude about the day has spilled over to Sabbatarians, so that what was once unacceptable on the seventh day has since become acceptable. The result is a decline in Sabbath observance:
While the Sabbath was certainly important for God's people to keep in the Old Testament, and the punishment for desecrating it was severe,12 we must remember that the penalty was temporal, relevant for this life alone, and did not determine a person's eternal disposition. That is, whether or not a person keeps the Sabbath has no bearing on whether or not a person is saved. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this single fact: No degree of obedience and no decree expecting obedience will determine a person's final destiny. That God decides on other grounds, namely whether or not a person has faith in Him. When someone links salvation to obeying any of God's laws, including the Sabbath, he sets up an impossible standard for himself and others on at least two counts.13
Again, no person and no precept goes even part way to meeting God's requirement for justification, which is necessary for salvation. That comes by faith alone in His gracious provision of atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus.
We might wish for further information about The Foremost Convocation, a more detailed description of what God expects. Evidently, He regards the other descriptions in scripture to be sufficient. Much of the Bible's instruction for observing the Sabbath tells what the day is not: It is not a time for work (n. 11), and Lev 23:3 reinforces that expectation as well: "[On] the seventh day...you are not to do any work." Little of the Bible's instruction for observing the Sabbath, though, is about what the day is. Lev 23:3 does address that point: "[The] Sabbath [is] a day of sacred assembly." It is so for Israel and for you who have adopted the Sabbath. In other words, the seventh day is not simply a day off, an opportunity to do whatever you please. It is an opportunity to spend time with other believers—"a day of sacred assembly"—and an opportunity to spend time with God—"a Sabbath to the LORD." ...Is that what the Sabbath is for you?
Having considered The Foremost Convocation, we will look next at The Foremost Concentration, which meditates on the precepts of God, in Josh 1:8.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
A group of teenagers were celebrating a birthday at a restaurant. Toward the end of their meal, a girl produced a camera to take a group photo. "Wait a minute," one of her friends said. "You have to be in the picture, too." A man having dinner with his wife at a nearby table volunteered to take the shot, much to the young girl's delight. He snapped a picture of the group and then, being unfamiliar with the camera, asked the girl, "Do you want me to take another picture in case that one doesn't come out?" "Oh, no, that's okay," she replied brightly.... "I always get double prints."When people celebrate significant events, they often want to remember them, although technology may not make that possible. There are other ways, however, to preserve the significance of an event, such as repeating it on a regular basis, which is the method God employs with The Foremost Convocation.
The exodus from Egypt moved the Israelites from bondage to freedom. They no longer served those who enslaved them; they now served the one who redeemed them. Before the exodus, God's specific expectations were relatively few and usually directed to a general audience, such as what He said to Noah in...
Gen 9:4 ...you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.... 6a Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed....After the exodus, God's specific expectations become far more numerous and directed to a specific audience,1 as we read in...
Lev 26:46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the LORD established...between himself and the Israelites....One aspect of that larger legal corpus describes "the appointed feasts of the LORD" (Lev 23:2), which commemorate God's involvement in the history of His people, including...
XLI. The Foremost Convocation2
...which sets aside each week...
- The period of God (Lev 23:3)
Lev 23:3 There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly.3 You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.There are several other passages in scripture that describe the importance God assigns to the seventh day, but this verse includes the two most common elements:
- First, His permission: "There are six days when you may work."
- Second, His prohibition: "The seventh day....you are not to do any work."
Rom 14:5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.The apostle makes it sound as if it is simply a matter of personal preference. How, then, does the seventh day warrant special treatment? (By the way, Paul's comment in Rom 14 is not about rest days and workdays, but about fast days and feast days. His remark there has nothing to do with the Sabbath.... CONTEXT CONTROLS MEANING.)
A defining feature in any society is the holidays it observes, because those periods often have some historical, cultural, or spiritual significance. For Israelite society, the Sabbath is a holiday whose significance extends to several areas, all having some connection to the nation's God. Scripture preserves at least four reasons why the Sabbath is important for Israel. The most familiar reasons appear in the two versions of the Ten Commandments.
From the first version of the Decalogue, in Exod 20, the Israelites learn that...
- The Sabbath marks God's creation, informing the people about their maker.
For many in Israel, this may have been new information. After "430 years" in Egypt (Exod 12:40-41), the people are probably aware of that country's creation stories, which credited a variety of deities with the formation of the universe over an indeterminate period of time. The creation story Moses recounts in Genesis 1 credits a single deity with the formation of the universe in six days, after which He rested...but that account says nothing about man's relationship to the seventh day. It is not until Exodus that God indicates the special import of the Sabbath for those He just redeemed, instructing them to follow His example by resting on the seventh day as He did. In this way, the Sabbath marks God's creation, informing the people about their maker.Exod 20:11 [I]n six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
From the second version of the Decalogue, in Deut 5, the Israelites learn that...
- The Sabbath marks God's redemption, freeing the people from their bondage.
Precisely how long the people were enslaved while in Egypt is unknown. Although limited to the reign of one pharaoh, their bondage lasted more than one generation, during which the Israelite population increased significantly.4 Therefore, most of those who left Egypt had never known freedom, had never known a regular day off, until God released the people and gave them a fixed day of rest. In this way, the Sabbath marks God's redemption, freeing the people from their bondage.Deut 5:15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Besides marking God's creation and redemption, other passages in Exodus note other reasons why the Sabbath is significant for Israel. In Exod 16...
- The Sabbath marks God's provision, sustaining the people in their travels.
As the Israelites make their way from Egypt to the Promised Land, they do not have to wonder or worry about securing their next meal. God will supply what they need for each day and twice as much on the sixth day so they can rest on the seventh day.5 In this way, the Sabbath marks God's provision, sustaining the people in their travels. Moreover, in Exod 31...Exod 16:29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out.
- The Sabbath marks God's consecration, sanctifying the people for their service.
God ordained that the Israelites would be His people and, consequently, would be different from all other people. He said...6Exod 31:13 ...You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Exod 19:5b ...out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6a you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Lev 20:24c I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations....To that end, He gave them an extensive and exclusive legal corpus.7
Ps 147:19 [God] has revealed...his laws and decrees to Israel. 20a He has done this for no other nation....Among those precepts was one He intended to identify them as different.8
Exod 31:13a [The Sabbath] will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come.... 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.In this way, the Sabbath marks God's consecration, sanctifying the people for their service.
This survey explains the Sabbath's significance for the people of God but not its observance, how the Lord expects them to keep it. Lev 23:3 helps fill the gap with information that Jews, to whom God gave the Sabbath, as well as gentiles who have accepted God's invitation to keep the Sabbath, must heed.9 Moses calls it "a day of sacred assembly [and] a Sabbath to the LORD," indicating that...
1. Your day of rest must have purpose....and that purpose is to focus your attention on God by meeting with others to worship Him. To do that...
2. Your day of rest must have priority....and that priority means to free your schedule for God by eliminating activities you would normally do during the week.
Some people, including some who claim to keep the Sabbath, view it as an interruption in their schedule (Wenham 1979:301), preventing them from doing what they want to do. That is, indeed, how God intends it, as a disruption in their normal routine to make people pause, turn from themselves, and turn to Him.
Are we missing an opportunity here? ...What struck me as I studied this verse was the difference between what it says and what we do. Follow along as I reread (and revise) the first part of...
Lev 23:3a There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, [an hour] of sacred assembly.Is that what Moses says? ...It is not that our "sacred assembly" must last all day, but that our "sacred assembly," the time we devote to the Lord, must be the main event of the day. For most Sabbatarians, their observance consists of an hour or two on Saturday morning. Once they fulfill their religious obligation, they do as they please with the rest of the day—watch TV, go to the mall, work on a project at home.... How many of the things you are tempted to do when you leave here—things appropriate on other days but not on God's holy day—how many things would not be a temptation if you spent most of the Sabbath with other believers?
Are we missing an opportunity? While we may not be ready to do what our Jamaican Seventh Day Baptist brethren do and make every Sabbath an all-day affair, perhaps we should consider it occasionally, once a month or every other month. That was the aspiration when we bought the house near the church: to spend more of our Sabbath day together. If you are too busy for "a day of sacred assembly," you need to review your purpose and revise your priority. You are rejecting one of God's benefits, because...
Isa 56:2 Blessed is the man... who keeps the Sabbath....and Lev 23:3 explains how you should be doing that.
There was a time when those who viewed Sunday as the Christian Sabbath had a strict view about how they should observe the day and regarded certain activities as inappropriate on what they held to be the Lord's Day.10 Going shopping or attending sporting events, for example, were not suitable for time devoted to God. With the abolition of Sunday Blue Laws and a general relaxing of Christian standards, activities once avoided have became acceptable on the day most Christians set aside for the Lord.
Wholly apart from the legitimacy of viewing Sunday as special, a position unsupported by scripture, this general change in attitude about the day has spilled over to Sabbatarians, so that what was once unacceptable on the seventh day has since become acceptable. The result is a decline in Sabbath observance:
- People no longer distinguish among various activities.
Moreover...
- Now, anything is acceptable and is often excusable, at least, in their minds.
- People no longer devote the entire day.
Whether you grew up in a Seventh Day Baptist home or adopted the Sabbath later in life, you must resist the temptation to make this day like the other six days. Apart from the prohibition against work11 and the admonition to worship, the most helpful guide for determining how to spend the day is the simple recommendation in...
- Now only the morning is for God; the rest of the day is for personal matters.
Isa 58:13c ...if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14a then you will find your joy in the LORD....Applying that basic principle to deciding what you should or should not do on the Sabbath can eliminate much of the uncertainty about what is appropriate and can help focus your attention where it must be: to make God's day holy.
While the Sabbath was certainly important for God's people to keep in the Old Testament, and the punishment for desecrating it was severe,12 we must remember that the penalty was temporal, relevant for this life alone, and did not determine a person's eternal disposition. That is, whether or not a person keeps the Sabbath has no bearing on whether or not a person is saved. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this single fact: No degree of obedience and no decree expecting obedience will determine a person's final destiny. That God decides on other grounds, namely whether or not a person has faith in Him. When someone links salvation to obeying any of God's laws, including the Sabbath, he sets up an impossible standard for himself and others on at least two counts.13
- First, no one person is that perfect. What God requires for salvation is a level of righteousness that is beyond everyone's ability to achieve. To think otherwise is either foolish or arrogant. Paul says...14
Gal 2:16 ...a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ....because by observing the law no one will be justified.... 21b for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
No one person is perfect enough, certainly no one here.
- Second, no one precept has that precedence. That is, there is no single law whose obedience will meet God's righteous requirement for salvation. If obedience could win His favor, it would have to be a package deal. Paul says...15
Gal 3:10b "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
No one precept has precedence enough, not even the Sabbath.Gal 5:3 ...every man who [relies on even one law] is obligated to obey the whole law.
Again, no person and no precept goes even part way to meeting God's requirement for justification, which is necessary for salvation. That comes by faith alone in His gracious provision of atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus.
We might wish for further information about The Foremost Convocation, a more detailed description of what God expects. Evidently, He regards the other descriptions in scripture to be sufficient. Much of the Bible's instruction for observing the Sabbath tells what the day is not: It is not a time for work (n. 11), and Lev 23:3 reinforces that expectation as well: "[On] the seventh day...you are not to do any work." Little of the Bible's instruction for observing the Sabbath, though, is about what the day is. Lev 23:3 does address that point: "[The] Sabbath [is] a day of sacred assembly." It is so for Israel and for you who have adopted the Sabbath. In other words, the seventh day is not simply a day off, an opportunity to do whatever you please. It is an opportunity to spend time with other believers—"a day of sacred assembly"—and an opportunity to spend time with God—"a Sabbath to the LORD." ...Is that what the Sabbath is for you?
Having considered The Foremost Convocation, we will look next at The Foremost Concentration, which meditates on the precepts of God, in Josh 1:8.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)
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Jim Skaggs