Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Ezekiel 20:12.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
The path of life is the way of rest, it is walking in My rest. Make every day Shabbat, the sign between Me and you that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. John 17:16-19.
My rest. What is it? I created everything in six days. When I began it was a void and dark place, but I went to work and filled it with light, beauty, life, and every good thing given and every perfect gift. And everything came out of Me.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good. Genesis 1:1-4.
First I spoke in the Light of life and then I separated the waters by the dome of the sky and made the dry land appear, then I filled it with plants and trees with seed and fruit, made the sun and moon and the vast array of planets, stars and galaxies, and I shook the gold and silver into the earth in its strata, and then I filled the oceans with creatures and made the birds of the heavens, and then the beasts of the fields. And when I came to the evening of the sixth day everything was good, pleasing and perfect, and all the laws governing the reproduction and working together in perfect harmony in all the ecosystems and jurisdictions of the earth and planets was in place, and it was then, when everything that was made was made, that I made man in My own image and according to My likeness. And the first thing I did was bless him and show him the beauties of the earth and of the wondrous garden I had planted for him. It was his place of training and the model for what he was to do with the earth over which I gave him dominion and rule over the works of My hands.
In all My work of creation, only man was in My image and according to My likeness. Everything else I made was for you to rule over.
I made man on the evening of the sixth day as the crown of My creation. I formed you at time of the beginning of the great sabbath (Shabbat) day when I entered into My rest. And I took you in with Me.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (angels). By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1-3.
But the man and woman left My rest for a life of toil and sorrow. Not a wise choice but their free choice. But I had in mind always to pull you, My family in My own image, back into My rest. And it started with Enoch and got codified with Moses. The sign of Shabbat.
I first introduced the observance of one day at the end of every week to set aside as sacred when no work would be done when I brought My people out of slavery in Egypt where their slave masters had them working constantly with no days off. There had been no rest from heavy labor for them at all. I called it Shabbat, which in Hebrew means “rest.”
Shabbat then was a precious gift from Me, a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when all weekday concerns were set aside to be devoted to higher pursuits. More than My people kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept them. It was designed to give them joy in a day spent with Me with no toil. Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in the Old Covenant of all the feast days and appointed times. Why? It is the only ritual observance that I instituted in the Ten Commandments. It is also at the top of the list of feast days and appointed times that I gave to Moses.
The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.” Leviticus 23:1-3.
After the Shabbat comes the Passover, then unleavened bread, first fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All the other feasts and appointed times are being fulfilled one by one, but the Shabbat will continue forever in that one eternal day in My rest.
The word “Shabbat” comes from the root meaning to cease, to end, or to rest. It is a day of prayer and feasting but just in the sense that the prayers and meals done every day are on that day are done in a more leisurely, festive, and elaborate way than on the other days.
And you must remember as well that I first instituted Shabbat with My people as I led them to the rest of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey where they were each to have their own home, vineyard, fruit trees, and wells. The Shabbat day had no parallel in any other civilization. In the nations around them at that time, leisure was for the wealthy and the ruling classes only, never for the serving or laboring classes. In addition, the very idea of rest each week was strange to the surrounding nations. The Greeks thought My people were lazy because they insisted on having a “holiday” every seventh day.
Shabbat involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zakhor) Shabbat, and to observe (shamor) Shabbat.
Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Exodus 20:8.
I commanded My people to remember Shabbat; but remembering means much more than merely not forgetting to observe Shabbat. It also means to remember the significance of Shabbat, both as a commemoration of creation and as a commemoration of their freedom from slavery in Egypt.
In giving the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, Exodus 20:11, after the Fourth Commandment to keep the Shabbat, I explained, “because for six days, the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day, He rested; therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.” By resting on the seventh day and sanctifying it, you remember and acknowledge that I am the creator of heaven and earth and all living things. And you follow My divine example, by refraining from work on the seventh day. My seventh day was a permanent place of peace. The work was all completed.
Later, Moses again states the Ten Commandments to bring them to the remembrance of the people, Deuteronomy 5:15, and there he notes the second thing that you must remember on Shabbat: “remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, brought you forth from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD you God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”
Shabbat is about freedom. Slaves never got a day off to rest. My people are free. Shabbat showed freedom but also it freed My people from the care of weekday concerns to put all that aside for a day in My rest with Me.
The Shabbat is a day to remember My work of creation and the exodus from Egypt, that is, creation and redemption. I also told My people to guard and observe the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Deuteronomy 5:12. Guard the holy and never overwhelm it out with the profane.
Shabbat begins at sunset, because that is the way I set out days in the work of creation, “And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” From this, a day begins with evening, that is, at sunset. Shabbat ends at nightfall, when three stars are visible.
Shabbat was a sign of My sanctification of My people, those sanctified by faith in Me. For the Shabbat above all shows faith in My care of you and that your work is not the primary source of your supply.
I gave My people double the amount of Manna to gather on the sixth day to provide for the seventh day. This shows you that I supply double for you to enter into My rest. I did the same every seven years so they could rest the land and even more stored up for the Jubilee which always came after a Shabbat for the land. So they had to have bumper crops for three years to have provisions for the time of rest.
But there is much more now in the New Covenant than the observance of a day or ever a year. I am speaking of a rest that is constant. Even though I entered the rest, Jesus tells you I am constantly at work. The work of ministering to you, to care for all that concerns you. But I do it from My rest, from the position of sanctified work where all creation is operating in obedience to My Word. And it is there I want to pull you in with Me, to the place of perfect provision and fruitfulness. The place of shalom peace. And Jesus invites you in.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.
It is a sacred place and to pull you back in, you had to be freed from your sins, just as I redeemed the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt and gave them the Shabbat as a sign of their sanctification, that is, the setting apart of them as a nation holy unto Me and a people under the blood of the lamb and of My Word, so too it is a place of remembrance and observance of your redemption from the slavery to sin and death by Jesus and your sanctification by His blood and the Word.
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Sin cannot abide in My presence, there is no place for darkness in the light.
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
I have set all you who believe in My Son and He your Shabbat.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. John 17:16-19.
What does this mean to you? It means a life of work from rest as Adam had in the Garden of Eden. It is back to the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Abundant Life. And what happened there? Perfect communication, conversation, fellowship, and instruction which led to maximum fruitfulness and productivity with no sweat, no thorns, and no storms.
Can you live a life of perfect peace in the midst of a now imperfect world? Yes. When you enter into My rest. And you enter in Jesus, for He is Lord even of the Sabbath Day. He is the door to the green pastures and quiet waters of healing peace. He restores your soul. In Him you go in and out and find pasture. Into the rest, out to the world, and back in. Like the dove from the ark except I keep pulling you back in. In Jesus, I draw you with human cords and bands of love.
Perfect peace have those whose minds are stayed on Me for in Me you have the everlasting rock.
Jesus lived in My rest. He had perfect peace. And HE GAVE YOU HIS PEACE. You have the shalom peace of Jesus IN YOU. Draw on it. Get rooted and grounded in it. And like My servant Paul you will say in the storms unleashed in this world of domination by the devil, “nothing moves me.” Nothing will move you out of the peace of rest that is in the Holy of Holies. Jesus told you that:
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:15-18.
Living with Me in My rest is living just as Jesus did and this was won for you by the priceless treasure of His blood poured out for you. The prophecies of Isaiah in chapter 53 are realized for you in Jesus and purchased for you the way of rest. Shabbat Shalom. Live your life through Him in perfect peace no matter what storm the devil sends your way. He is the Door into a life of perfect peace in My rest.
There is no reason for fear or unrest when you have access to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus. Before you even know you have a problem, I have the solution already in place and prepared for you in advance. Whenever you call, I have the answer. And whenever you have a need, I have already filled it. I already have given you the double portion for to enter Shabbat rest.
Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs. Isaiah 61:7.
And that is the path of life. It is a rest of faith in Him who knew no sin but became sin for you all. He is eternal life. And when you have Him, you have eternal life. Enter it now and do not spend one more day in torment. Come share My joy.
But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Exodus31:13.
In the rest I sanctify you in truth and the truth will set you free. Shabbat is the place of true freedom. For whom the Son sets free (from sin, guilt, shame, and pain) is free indeed.
I love you. Let us walk out your life together from the place of My rest. And that is the Holy of Holies. It is always peaceful there.
“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, Then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14.