even if they can't understand why others don't immediately snap to and agree with them.
I don't feel that way so I wouldn't know anything about it.
Besides, it's not like the Sabbath was a commandment given to those not being children of Israel....
THE SABBATH—SIGN OF SALVATION.
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Heb. 4:9-11).
It took a Creator to bring about creation, and it took the same Creator to bring about redemption (Col. 1:14-16; Heb. 1:2, 3). As the Lord celebrated His finished work of Creation by setting apart the Sabbath and making it holy, so He celebrates His work of redemption for us by making the same Sabbath a sign of that redemption.
This is the link between the weekly Sabbath and righteousness by faith. Just as Creation was a work that was done for us, salvation is the same. It is what God does for us; it can never be what we do for ourselves. The Sabbath helps show the source of our righteousness to be God, nothing else, and certainly not our works. The Sabbath also reminds us that just as we have not created ourselves, we cannot redeem ourselves.
What does Hebrews 4 mean when it talks about us ceasing from our works? Does a person who accepts Christ stop doing good works? (See Eph. 2:10; Matt. 5:16; 1 Tim. 6:18; 2 Tim. 3:17; Titus 2:7; Heb. 10:24.) Or does it mean ceasing from seeking salvation from our works? What does a person saved by faith rest from, if not good works? To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ's creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. The Sabbath points them to the works of creation as evidence of His mighty power in redemption. While it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, it tells of peace restored through the Saviour.
THE SABBATH—THE SIGN OF SANCTIFICATION.
Read Exodus 20:8, along with Leviticus 20:7 and 1 Peter 1:15, 16. What do these verses have in common?
God tells us to keep the Sabbath holy (Exod. 20:8). But in order to do that, we ourselves must be holy. How can people, themselves unholy, keep a day holy? They can't.
Thus, it's clear: God calls us to holiness. Both the Old and the New Testament testify to this sacred call. Peter even refers to the New Testament church as a holy nation: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" (1 Pet. 2:9).
That holiness, however, is something that only God can do in us. We need to learn how to cooperate with the Lord in order that He can make us into the kind of people who can indeed keep His Sabbath holy. And the Sabbath is a sign of that holiness.
"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you" (Exod. 31:13; see also Ezek. 20:12). What do these verses reveal about the link between the Sabbath and sanctification?
The word in both these texts for "sanctify" comes from the same Hebrew word as "holy." They could have just as easily been translated "that you may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy." The Sabbath, therefore, isn't just a sign of justification, of the work that God has done for us; it also symbolizes what He wants to do in us, also known as sanctification. Because the whole plan of redemption involves restoration, the Sabbath, a symbol of the Creation and re-creation, symbolizes God's creative power working in us, restoring us to what God wants us to be. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15. That work, of course, will be completed only at the Second Coming, but the process, that of our sanctification, is going on even now.
Though we certainly can no more sanctify ourselves on our own than we can justify ourselves, we can cooperate with the Lord, who alone can make us holy. In what ways does keeping the Sabbath help us cooperate in that process? Look at your own Sabbath-keeping experience, and ask yourself if, in fact, you are really keeping the day "holy" as commanded.
THE SABBATH—THE SIGN OF LOYALTY (Rev. 14:1-12).
The book of Revelation teaches that the Sabbath commandment will play a special role in last day events. It will be, in a sense, a "test" of our loyalty to God. Yet that won't be the first time the Sabbath has been a test.
Look again at Exodus 16, the story of the manna and the Sabbath. What verse in particular shows that loyalty to God was tested by a willingness to obey the Sabbath commandment?
Read carefully the first angel's message (Rev. 14:6, 7). The call to worship "him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" introduces a clear link to the Sabbath commandment, even if the language isn't exactly as in Exodus 20 (Revelation never directly quotes the Old Testament). What makes this link even more crucial is that the dividing issue in the last days will center on worship: People will worship either the One " 'who made the heavens, [and] the earth'" (Rev. 14:7, NIV) or they will worship the "image of the . . . beast" (Rev. 13:15, KJV). And because we want to worship only our Creator, and because the Sabbath was instituted to remind us of that Creator, it's not unreasonable that the Sabbath will play a big role in the climax of earth's history.
The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false Sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God's law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator.
Read carefully through the three angels' messages in Revelation 14:1-12. What verse in particular also adds biblical proof to belief in the perpetuity of the Sabbath?
Psalm 92 is a song for the Sabbath day. Why is this an appropriate song for the Sabbath? Where in the psalm do you find a link between Creation and God's redemption?
By communing with God, we actually partake of His holiness. Thus because its hours are filled with intimate fellowship between man and God, the Sabbath becomes the sign, the epitome, of the entire life of sanctification. God has placed a glorious opportunity and privilege before us. In a special way on Sabbath we may put aside our daily work and participate in deep personal communion with the Holy One of Israel, and in that intimate relationship become changed more and more into His likeness.
Dhjjvjjjjjjn
.