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Chapter  FIVE

 THAT EXUBERANT DAY OF REST!

Christ the Creator

and the Celestial Regality

 See next Chapter,  Appendix for more, and see *3A below for reference point.

 

There follows an account of the Gist and thrust,

the word of God to man on the day of rest. 

There are attached to this, such comforting 

and comprehensive divine promises, as it would 

seem remiss for one to omit in our topic, 

in any work on Biblical blessing, however short.

This  Chapter, here slightly revised and extended, has appeared before,

but in view of the long Appendix to it, Ch. 5 which follows,

it has seemed best to present it here as an introduction. 

God will provide 'rest from their labours' for all the saints who, having completed their pilgrimage on this fascinating, challenging and great opportunity, life on earth, return to their Maker (Revelation 14:13, II Corinthians 4:16­5:3, Revelation 7:13-17, I Thessalonians 5:9-10, John 5:24, Roman 10:1­4). Here is the eternal rest which is from the toils and suffering of sailing in the distressed seas of humanity, when that phase is past; here is the rest which, following the INTERNAL REST which Christ provides NOW (Matthew 11: 28 ­29), becomes EXTERNAL, with works 'following' in this His rest, as the wake follows a speedboat which suddenly stops its career across the waters.

 
 

Now

But NOW ? Now EVERY seventh day there is a DAY OF REST, a preliminary instalment in ONE sense, of that eternal rest. HERE there is to be a cessation of the grind of body or mind, of the toil to produce in terms of one's obligations and career, commission, task.

1) There is to consider first, the COMMAND to this effect, found in Exodus 20:8­11.

The SABBATH day: it is a term meaning 'cessation' day. GOD created and CEASED; and so we labour, and CEASE. THAT is the reason given in the ten commandments; and that is BASED on something that HAPPENED. It cannot unhappen. There is no way God's statement that we (in His image as creations ­ Genesis 1:26) rest BECAUSE He did, can be removed.

WE are fulfilling what HE did, in image form; and this is a stated requirement on THAT basis. Remove the creation ... and then you may have some appearance of a case! till then, you have nothing to do except TAKE WITH the creation, this requirement ... Rest, one day in seven: initially for the creation, Now for the re-creation in Christ Jesus, by whom salvation may replace slavery to sins without God, psychic squalor. But let us begin at the beginning, with the prophet Isaiah, himself called the evangelical prophet, because he looked forward to the Messiah, the Christ with profound depth and multiple detail. "Sabbath" means ... REST. Where and in whom this is to be found is seen in Isaiah 11:1-10. But REST: it is all a matter of rest. THERE IS EVEN A SPECIFIC PROVISION FOR IT, TIME-WISE, ECHOING THE COVENANT, WHETHER OLD OR NEW, IN ITS OWN WAY.

2) REQUIREMENT ? It is a delight, a provision, a management kindness, a Creator's judicious thoughtfulness, a marvel of abundance, a luxury of joy, to be able as a DUTY to STOP. Do you ever consider that IF what you are doing is not much, or not really taxing, then stopping might seem a little less delightful? In fact, ONE way to find whether what one is doing is indeed a heavy use of talents, is the joy in finding, 'AH, it is the DAY OF REST, and now I will be still!' It therefore has this practical diagnostic payload as well! DELIGHT ? Yes, I did not invent that thought. Look at Isaiah 58:13­14^*1 . Here the prophet Isaiah gives the INWARD and directly SPIRITUAL realities in view. You are NOT to tread on the day of rest; not to make it possess 'my pleasure day' scenario. Instead, you are to call it 'a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable'. Thus it is an opportunity to spend time with less intrusion, with the ONE you love, with the GRACE of His presence, the COMFORT, CONSOLIDATION and CLEANING of His friendship and function, with the PASTOR over all, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You CEASE (remember , 'cessation' ?) from your own ways; it is not even a day to fulfil your temperament. It is a day... FOR THE LORD. IF you love Him, it will not be onerous. Imagine having a date with your girl friend, and battling to avoid it! It can therefore also be a TEST OF SINCERITY! SHE would be quick to discern if it were a bore, an intrusion for you.

If then you expect HONOURABLE reality in courtship before marriage, preparing for a companionship for a lifetime on earth, WHAT is to be expected for a pilgrimage with the LORD, leading to the pure and exquisite delight of friendship with the ALMIGHTY FOR EVER! Take then this thing not lightly! It is a life­line. DO NOT even make it a time for blather ­ do not 'speak your own words', says Isaiah.

Quite simply you are FREE: BUT consider the implications of what you do:

DOES THIS ACTION HELP the holy purpose of the day ? It is NOT a time to judge this or that interpretation of rest, as swimming or walking before the Lord with Him in view; it IS a time to judge for oneself.

3) JUDGE ? Yes, alas, man is prone to judge; but GOD is judge. Now this GOD judges, that MAN IS NOT MADE FOR THE SABBATH BUT THE SABBATH FOR MAN (Mark 2:27­28). CHRIST DID a work of casual mercy, something which came up, on the SABBATH, and HIS FATHER was working in this with HIM as HE was using the format of MAN for Himself (being incarnated).

Yes a work of mercy is not awry or amiss on the DAY OF REST. ALSO, CHRIST is explicit in HAVING LORDSHIP OVER THE DAY OF REST. HE CLAIMS a divine sovereignty even over this provision, not teaching that we DO NOT CEASE from our labours as provided on the basis that GOD RESTED after six creative days; but showing the deeper meaning. The prerogative is HIS as Moses made clear ­ in Deuteronomy 18:18­19, speaking of that prophet to come ... who would be 'raised up', often shown as the MESSIAH in the prophets (cf. Luke 24:25ff.) HE must take precedence. We must see WHAT then HE said; and this is BOTH that He came to fulfil, not to abrogate or annul the Law; and that He was Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 5:17­19, Mark 2 as above).

 

4) But JUDGE ? THIS God has judged; yet WE must not act as judges. Of course what HE SAYS is binding and this HE has judged already.

It is however when HE forbids certain actions that we must heed.

HE (Colossians 2:14-17 cf. Hebrews 10:1ff.) judges that NO MAN may judge another with respect to sabbaths. The whole range of sabbaths (rest could be specially proclaimed as well as on the seventh day), IN THEIR SHADOW FORM, this was NO MORE to be a subject for particular judgment (i.e. by APPLYING the law to a case clearly covered by it). The Sabbath as defined by external symbols COULD NO MORE be judged. The Sabbath as defined with reference to the FUTURE, this could no more be judged. That is what Paul is saying. This double exclusion attested the point at issue. The weekly Sabbath applied to the past, not to the future, and so is excluded, nor could the externalia of symbolism be judged, for shadows were completed in substance.

There was thus only one possible reason for the reference. THAT PART of the law which was a shadow (as defined in Hebrews 10:1ff.) or symbol (Colossians 2:17 in our immediate context), which Christ had fulfilled, the part which was in line with new moon ceremonies, feasts and the like: THIS was OUT. Examples of the provisions which would relate to the exclusion, include the death penalty for picking up sticks on the Sabbath ­ a severe, symbolic provision to impart sensitivity to the issues involved (cf. Romans 7:13, Galatians 4:2,9). The RITUAL, CEREMONY and MULTIPLIED DETAILS are GONE. The new rest day is for rest indeed, but not for ritual rest, for its issuance is freely from the bosom of Christ, where the blood flowed to excise penalty, and to introduce through grace, a liberty which yet did not undo creation specifications, or moral immutabilities, but rather  as Paul declares, ESTABLISHED them (Romans 3:31).

 

Non-Abort

Christ did not however abort the law, as He said (Matthew 5:17­19). HE has made it clear where the process stops, in fulfilment. "I did not come to abort the law (abolish) or the prophets," He said." I did not come to abolish but to fulfil." He went on to say that not one jot or tittle of the law would pass till ALL was fulfilled. God says it; God means it; God DOES it. He is a fulfiller, not an abolitionist, of HIS OWN WORD.

The rendering 'sabbaths' is normally taken to refer, then to the monthly, various, yearly or other ceremonies of rest, and in context the issue is the entire area of ceremonial multiplication, though future reference only is in view, and that excludes the past referring basic weekly sabbath. .

Christ did not then abort the law. He removed shadows, symbols into substance. He did not re­constitute man; He redeemed men. He did not re­make nature; He restored man in nature.

GOD has not ceased, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, to be the Creator in 6 days who rested on the seventh. Man has not ceased to be the creation to whom this is tied by virtue of image­bearing from God. The 10 commandments do not fail because Christ has died: for these are modes of life, not rituals or ceremony such as Colossians 2:16 lists, and Colossians 2:17 defines for 2:16. Thus the rests in view in 2:16 are statedly relating to things to come; this is the substance for the ritual rests mentioned. The rest which is THE sabbath, that however, is of things defined as PAST. The two are in this defined respect, opposites.

The law, then, is 'ESTABLISHED', not annulled, as Paul says (Romans 3:31). Its fulfilled portions are incorporated in Christ's atonement, all the symbolism that was for 'minors', as Galatians 4 depicts. Of age, Paul teaches there, we now see direct to the core of things.

This however does NOT mean we surrender the core. To retain the core is not to dispense with it. Quite the contrary; it focusses the core, it is established as the apostle teaches.

The skin of the banana is off; but the fruit remains. The symbols and ceremonies of an earlier phase are fulfilled (Hebrews 9 & 10, Isaiah 22:21­25). The truth however remains. The truth ? it is that God created the world in 6 days and that THEREFORE, as thus CONSTRUCTED by THIS CREATOR, so we have likewise been INSTRUCTED by the Creator, we rest too. He SAID it. He declared the REASON for it; and the reason is non-dispensable. It is something that has already happened. It is moreover something which has led to our existence at His hand, to which He refers in laying down this stipulation, which thus nothing can 'fulfil', for we exist already. Nothing can 'fulfil' a creation which was good; it can only annul it, or despoil it! That however is not the point. God declares how we must CONSERVE it. The stipulation is historically based and unconditional.

 

The Rest did not Commence Yesterday, but was Highlighted

As we may readily see, the rest of spirit to which Christ referred was already in place in the Old Covenant (Psalm 32 where iniquity is not imputed, Psalm 95 where a spiritual rest was ignored, though is shown available, and Isaiah 63:14 where the picture is exquisite in terms of rest from the Lord, Psalm 16:9-11, where the rest in the power of the all-protective and all-sufficient God is in view). Christ does not fulfil a creation-format rest by supplying a salvation from the sin which defiled the creation. He rescues from sin, not from being a creation. It is not to de-nature us, but to restore us that is His desire: and that, to the Lord, who made us, and that in His image!

Indeed, we are a new creation in Him such that God restores the "new man which has been created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness", and Christians "have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" - Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10. NOT ONLY, therefore, is there the continuity of the very same IMAGE that man has, that is, made in the image of God, but there is a renewal ACCORDING to that image.

Now as to THAT image, its genesis, its first creation divinely is shown to determine its rest sequence; just as its salvation determines the day on which this need is to be celebrated, so that the rest that passes all rests can be symbolised as basic to the rest which is natural to such a creation as this. The nearest you get to a new 'rest' is verbal: restoration! But restoration is to that which was so created by THIS Creator, that on account of the mode of the creation, HE has declared that a serial character is to manifest in its rest. Without doubt, dispensationalism is a major reason for confusion of the explicit and the obvious in this regard, for the word of God is quite clear. On that topic, then, some may wish now to turn to Deliver us from Dispensationalism and from Sovereignty without a Sovereign, in this volume.

It is a monumental perversion of the truth to seek to annul the facts, or the divine perspective as stated by God. As Isaiah says in the chapter after 58* ( the 'Sabbath' stressing verses are here), indeed, in 59:21 ­ the words the prophet gives will go on throughout the generations: "My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says the Lord, from this time and forevermore."

The Gospel is here and the REST day is here and so is the FREE gospel, the divine COMMANDER in flesh, the bearing of sin, the rising from the dead. It is all here and it is all as it was to be. It is Isaiah who is the "evangelical prophet" who proclaimed in advance the Gospel (53,11,2,22,40­42,49 etc.) and the coming into grace of the Gentiles (Isaiah 65:13­16); and the word stands. It cannot do anything else, for it is God who speaks it (Isaiah 43:13, 44:26-28).

 

Judges and Judgmentalism

How then may we not judge even by applying the word of God ? In sabbaths and new moons, and so on, says Paul in Colossians, we may not. Why ? Because, being fulfilled in this, it is no longer operative. In respect of forms, contradistinct from the reality, the truth of the matter (Colossians 2:17), sabbaths do not apply.

What then remains here ? Christ who came not to annul but to fulfil... Did He 'fulfil' that God rested on the 7th day ? THAT would be to contradict history, not to fulfil; and to contradict He did not come, we learn from His lips. He redeemed; but He did not deny our creation or what followed from it ... like periodicity of rest on the divine model.

We do indeed 'enter into our rest' ( Hebrews 4 with Psalm 95:7; Isaiah 63:14, 11:10), in Christ, who did not annul the truth but exposed it most beautifully. In Him we rest, obedient to the explicit will of God; catered for and covenantally covered by His blood, we rest in a free salvation provided by grace. We do not however prosecute this rest by denying our correlative format, our image from the Creator^*2 and the rest as statedly consequent upon this.

Reverence for the word of God does not make a sort of plastic key for undoing anything at all in the word of God. (The rest cited in Hebrews comes from a quotation in the Old Covenant, headed, TODAY!, the offer being then current.) Christ, then, gives rest in redemption; but He does not perform this by deleting our image and the gracious counsel which God has pronounced on that basis; He does not give us rest from our 'works' by deleting our day of rest, from working that we might rest in it. Our creative status remains, is rectified to the rest that is in Him, but it is neither defiled, nor deformed, nor essentially altered in pattern by this; rather is it renewed, restored to holiness, of which this rest is part, in its created condition as specified quite clearly by God.

Thus, and let us re-affirm this, we read in Colossians 3:10 that the Christian has: put on the new man who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of Him who created him (NASB).; and in Ephesians 4:24 that we are to put on the new man who (NKJV): was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness. This is the Biblical perspective, and this we must follow^*3.

No judgment on FORMS ( a 'shadow') then, is to occur, because THAT IS fulfilled; but as to the SUBSTANCE, the truth, God has not altered. He knew what He meant from the beginning and said it. He does not change and in Him is no shadow of turning. He may make progressive but not regressive revelation, has no need of revisionism; the word of the Lord, unlike the grass of the field, stands forever (1 Peter 1:24).

 

New Technology is Not Spiritually Applicable:
Buds of Revelation Have Blooms, not Rust -
3rd day bloom

The word of God is never outmoded, only fulfilled. He does not deny Himself
(1 Timothy 2:13). Abraham indeed was saved by the same faith as we have (Romans 4:2­12,23­25). What then did Christ DO relative to the DAY of REST, as 'Lord even of the Sabbath' (Matthew 12:8)^*3A, which could no more be bound in its symbolic forms, but had to remain in its DAY OF REST essence ?

He appeared on a Sunday, so producing rest instead of restlessness, and giving occasion for worship of Himself (which happened in fact), in particular on the part of Thomas (John 20:19­23).

Why did He not so come with SUCH rest on Saturday, the Sabbath that commemorated God's creation ? It is this: He was as to body STILL IN THE GRAVE, on the day. No House for rest came to the troubled disciples because of that (cf. Luke 24:19­21). Quite the contrary was the trend. The incarnate God did NOT appear on that Saturday in the redemptive plan; the work of the resurrection was NOT then performed. He waited till a new day for the completion of a new work, the greatest of all, the resurrection after sin-bearing!

Now notice this, that Paul says in Romans 4:24­25, of Christians, concerning the righteousness of God: "It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our offences, and was raised up for our justification."

v       "Therefore," says Romans 5:1,

v       "having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Having been justified" --- cf. Romans 5:9, where it recurs. Justification is already wrought on the Christian who therefore WILL be glorified as Romans 8:30 declares (see Chapter 15, infra – “CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE").

There is rest: justified NOW, now that HE, the Christ, the Messiah is raised up, the soul has rest in Him. There is the essence of rest, reception into eternal life and assured companionship with God as Creator, Redeemer and Guarantor, as friend (Romans 8:32­39) - for ever (John 10:9,27-28, Hebrews 9:12). Everlasting rest from the everlasting Word of God, everlastingly paid for: worship on that day was the essence of the acknowledgment of Christ's victory, its cost to Him and its preciousness to us. To revert to times before it, THIS would be a profound blindness.

Thus there was ' Peace to you' to the assembled brethren on the Sunday, as a theme together with that earlier promise: "my peace I give to you: not as the world gives ... you have heard how I said to you, I go away, and come again to you". Envisaged in terms of His coming victory (John 16:20-33, 14:27-28), this now flooded their meeting, now that their joy was inspired with His post­resurrection visit John 16:22 forecast this on the good basis of HIS RETURN TO THEM, resurrected, mission accomplished, eternal rest secure.

Arisen, He appeared. NOW, HE was there; HE was restored as He said He would be. When giving His peace earlier, He yet proclaimed the coming crisis before their rejoicing. Now on Sunday, work done, crisis turned to rest. The disciples before this resurrection had wrestled; now they rested. They worshipped, He blessed, refreshed, communed, showed, strengthened and confirmed them, intimately and personally. THAT is rest! Before the resurrection, He had said:

¨    "Therefore now you have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you" (John 16:22).

The reality of rest was consummated for this earth, for His disciples. Rest was required, HIS rest was specialised, specific, sent and secured. It was not as if no more rest day was needed. Not at all.

He did not make the disciples now into a novelty in their persons; no, for they, re­created in the image of Him who first made them, and renewed in that which God first gave to man, could rest in His presence now. THIS created image, man, is required to rest on the day of rest as God shall see fit. On the model provided, the rest was first that of the creation, in recognition of His wonderful works, and the gift of BEING-at-all. NOW, it was on the new model provided, REDEMPTION REST in the salvation paid for: redemption rest in restoration of soul and guarantee of life, brought back to its first image. As created it was commanded rest; as re-created, its new rest, not obliterated but transformed, like the one for whom it was provided, centred on HIS WORK, HIS DAY and HIS SPECTACULAR yet beautiful glory, humility with accuracy, as He rose on the third day to create it for ever.

THIS first day of the week was therefore of necessity the DAY of rest, commemorating rest.

What ? Was God not at work in raising Christ towards the dawning of the day on that first day of the week, when the women came with spices ? Will it be said that THIS was not the greatest work of God, to deliver up and raise up His own Son for the sins and for the justification of life of the whole race - the life of those who come to Him (i.e. the whole family of believers ­ cf. 1 Peter 1:21, 2:9) ? God "raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

This is the seventh work of God; the work of redemption is here finished and its proclamation assured in power (Romans 1:4): "declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

THIS time HE, the LORD, appeared personally to superintend the worship and provide the rest, face to face; and what God has bound together, let not man put asunder. HE was marred, WE who are HIS are married, like the bride of Christ, the church, and HE has provided this rest on the day of His choice. Otherwise it could not be; the base would be gone, the mere creation commemoration would continue, and the eternal redemption slighted, people would be back before the unsearchable riches of Christ were poured out to bring rest.
 
  Salvation, not Junking: |
Deliverance, not Desecration: Restoration not Revocation:
Adjustment, not Abolition

THIS work of God was necessary;

NOT because the first work was inadequate,

but purely because the greatest work, man,

having the marvellous gift of liberty,

misused it, crashed his 'car', inherited death

and needed deliverance.

In love and to meet need, God worked once more, and 'It is finished', Christ proclaimed from the Cross; and the day of worship as of rest commemorates this greatest work of God, on the day when THIS is finished: Sunday. We do not slight the greatest work of God, by which we stand. (See also Appendix - News.)

HENCE, to enshrine God's works in 6 days ONLY... NOW that the greatest work has come (Hebrews 5:7), is to omit the labour of life by His Son. CHRIST­ians naturally honour the work by which they are constituted, claimed and covered, focussing Him who did it on the day it was done. WHEN was He raised for our justification, as Romans 4:25 phrases it? It was on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. Its anniversaries abound, every Sunday.

To revert to Saturday in this context, and for this reason, would of course be blasphemy and folly. It would indeed degrade, demean, or even ignore SALVATION, that gracious work of God without, which a man does not even know God (cf. John 17:3, Ephesians 4:17­19,2:8).

So to act would be a contradiction of what one is, as a Christian, and of what God did!

If we then are not to glory "EXCEPT in the Cross of Christ", by which the world is crucified to us, and we to the world, that effectual work of the Cross towering into the clouds of wonder in the resurrection which is its obverse (Galatians 6:14 so directs us), what would this be ?

It would be to imply a workless Saviour in the New Covenant in His blood! Will Christ be pushed back into the womb, and the work of birth, indeed the coming from heaven be countermanded ? Or will the work of God in the salvation which Christ secured be the new labour which the new day commemorates in the old way!

What would it be, if this transition, this development were refused, in terms of Galatians 6:14, for example ? It would be this: a very precise contradiction. As to that, leave it to the devil.

We do therefore, for all these reasons, have our IMAGE­OF­GOD DAY OF REST as divinely prescribed NOW, through Christ who declared Himself the LORD of the Sabbath^*3A, on the day that brought REST. Rest for whom? Rest both for God (as Redeemer) and for man (where redeemed) ... and that ? It is now necessarily, historically and thematically: The DAY OF THE RESURRECTION. It is called Sunday.

In full accord with this, Christ appeared to the waiting disciples again (John 20:24­31) ... when ? On the NEXT first day of the week, by Jewish counting, the 8th day from the former, the resurrection day.

What then did Christ do ? He appeared on that day in such a way that there was worship (John 20:28). Indeed, Thomas worshipped Him there as "THE GOD OF ME, AND THE LORD OF ME"! (to translate literally, giving the designation more obviously). Thomas expressed his belief to Christ who then made this a criterion of ALL faith, so declaring by divine fiat, this fact of salvation. Many shall not see and yet believe, said Christ; specifying the content in view at this point, for believing. In this indispensable minimum, to the expectant soul, came rest. To Thomas also, then, He appeared on the first day of the week, as He did to the others, declaring explicitly and formally a great fact, reflecting a chief criterion of the Christian faith.

Thomas missed ^*4 the congregation on the FIRST great rest day, on the FIRST day of the week (Sunday), and he gained deliverance on the second great rest day: the second FIRST day of the week (i.e. the following Sunday).

 

THE FIRST OF THE FEW:
the 6 made into 7
and the 1st Day now the Rest for all who Come to THIS Rest: Christ the Lord

Thus it was on the first day of the week that

this new labour of God was completed:

this fundamental labour,

this soul­freeing labour,

this labour that our hope and faith might be in God -
this labour that produced rest for the disciples and Thomas.

It was then that Christ arose to be worshipped.

THIS is the day of rest for God and man.

 

To think less is

to elevate man

to demean God,

to derogate Christ as if not having equal honour with the Father (John 5:19­23).

It would malign His crucial and epochal work

physically and theologically, both personally and spiritually,

in the resurrection;

degrade Him who said, Before Abraham was, I am;

without whom no created thing did appear, and who, NOT creating Himself before

He was there to do it, nor needing to do so when there already! is eternal.

He is Creator with the Father of all things.

This is the work of God on the body He assumed, His great and 'strange work' of which Isaiah spoke, in terms of His power, when also declaring the coming of the Messiah as the great foundation stone (Isaiah 28:21, 28:16 cf. Isaiah 26:19, Psalm 16). This now is in the forefront of commemoration of the works of God (cf. Ephesians 1:19­20).
 
 

This they found; this we find;
this the early disciples showed in word and deed.

Not only did Christ commence divine dealings with His own essential, small band of apostles, on the reality of the bodily resurrection on a Sunday that GAVE rest, but He completed this decisive impact on the SUNDAY that AGAIN gave rest, the worship day of commemoration and action. This was the first opportunity for verification following that FIRST Sunday, Lord's day, when Thomas challenged the physical fact, after missing the meeting in which he could readily have done so at the first. THAT of course is a standing rebuke to the concept of missing church when downcast, which can be an apt recipe for having MORE grounds for sorrow.

Thomas stood ready to verify, and Christ came to suffer it, on that second Sunday which was the FIRST IDENTICAL week day to show what Thomas stood ready to verify. It was as it were the next LAB. day for the Class!

Not only were there grounds for it to happen on that day; happen it did. Indeed, not merely this, but others stood ready so to rejoice in this discovery and declaration, duly and fitly assembled, and to follow in THAT day, the worship of Him who declared to Thomas, YOU have seen and believed; BLESSED are they who have not seen but yet believe! Declaration Day, a duet of Sundays^*5.

Hence THIS was the day which was that of the rest­producing resurrection when HE who was raised came with peace; the day of worship of Him thus available for it, in the bodily format in which He came, magnificently renewed. It is the day of demonstration to the doubter. It was moreover the day of declaration of the PRINCIPLE of faith which the doubter evoked from the Master, for ALL who would so believe as Thomas now did: and on this day there was healing ... of the mind of the troubled apostle, Thomas. On this day, Christ by divine power invested the congregation, both blessing and delivering peace, as also teaching principle and performing practice, with His New Covenant presence.

Thus too in 1 Corinthians 16:2, we find that Paul says this: "on the first day of EVERY week, let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come."

Again, in Acts 20:7: "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them."

Now Paul talked ... to such extent and effect that a certain young man fell asleep AND off a window sill!

Here is the notation of what happened in system, as to collection, and in an extensive prepared worship service. It is stated in a natural, normal way, not as an exception, any more than were the first great meetings with Christ. It is indicated in a systematic way, just as also was there system there, at the first. Indeed at the first, it happened in a NECESSARY way, excluding worship before and requiring it THEN. Then too it was seen in an EXPERIMENTAL way ... and worship there was REQUISITE as Christ came to them, for them to honour the Lord.

Special days? These one may construe for personal thanksgiving before the Lord, on an individual basis. THIS DAY is THE LORD'S DAY, which as Lord of the Sabbath, He made His own, and makes OUR DAY OF REST. Thus He disposed it, so it is, so it must be, so it has been. It is not for us to dispossess Him, whom the Jews first dispossessed by Roman means, of His body.
Enough is enough! Let us honour Him here and in this, as in all things.

THIS is our day of rest -

as creatures of Christ,

new creations justified by His resurrection, as Paul has it,

able to rest (in terms of day, symbolic signal of rest) ... not at all till then. Indeed, what to us is a day symbol, was a day celestial: it happened then!*⁶

THIS is the day THE LORD has made, signalising His works ­ works now extended that we might be amended. Let us rejoice and be glad in it, showing in this way the creation of this rest in Christ, through Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, whose mighty work is commemorated in a New Covenant in a new day, priceless in what it exhibits to us, immeasurable in the gift it consummated in history, and saw secured in the heart.

 

NOTES

*1 Isaiah 58:13-14

Let us look a little more at that wonderful promise in Isaiah 58:13-14.

v       In the very midst of the evangelical symphony of Christ and Him crucified which has been arresting the mind of the reader, with a background in the Psalms, with Isaiah 4,7,9,11,32,42,49,50,52-55 in mind, and 60 - 61, 65 to come, we find this deeply probing and inveterate melody on rest to the spirit, rest that is spiritual in dimension and in depth, but which is practical and actual in attendance and expression.

 

v       It is like music - the inspiration, the vision is very real; but it is also ... to be played!
It is not that I am always so musical that I do not need actually to hear or to play music; not at all. It is rather that being musical, and ready both for vision and inspiration from it, I THEREFORE listen to it. Not in some everything mode, but in a specific time, occasion and point where I may give myself without preoccupation to the meditation of its display.

How much less are we to void the concept that since GOD SAID that since He created us in six days, then rested, He wants us, in His image, to rest once in seven. The fraction commemorates the work-rest "beat", just as the resurrection commemorates and acknowledges the latest and greatest work that GIVES our rest a hook, a place of grace and recognition.

As to that recognition we gain "instruction in righteousness" as Paul phrases it, from God's word in such places as Romans 4:25, 1:4, I Corinthians 16:2, Acts 20:7: and this? it is according to the premiss of God in II Timothy 3:16.

Shall Christ's resurrection be voided of its eminence as a work of God in man's RE-creation (II Corinthians 5:17)! One of the "old things that have passed away" is the relevance of the day as token of the first creation for rest, and one part of the "all things are become new" situation is the need for the new day recognising

v        the fundamental necessity of the Christian faith, on the one hand, and

v        that Christ is God Himself in human form, on the other,

v        His works attesting themselves as HE DID THEM.
 

He rose, there was the work; we are re-created, there is its application; He appeared for worship and to give rest, there is the act. As He enacted, so it is wrought for us, and so we commemorate it according to reality, the rest given, this its grounds displayed, and according to His action, which chose the first day of the week in fact and in practice to appear. It is SUBSTANTIAL rest because then HE GAVE IT, and it is a DAY because He used it a) to rise and b) to appear to be worshipped.

Thus:

¨   we are not uncreated; His word is not unbound. We MUST rest. Similarly,

 

¨   HIS work of the New Testament IS NOT derecognised: we rest at the END - as it NOW is - of His works. We glory in the greatness of the love that took so astounding a step, and worship as we live, live as we are delivered, now praising Him in communal worship just as did the disciples, on that day that He came to their midst in profound and divine example to institute the worship of the New Covenant, focussed on Himself who so appeared, and who then appeared.

We cannot

• undo the greatest labour of God, act as if "It is finished" is some mere symbol, or

• ignore this magnificence of utter expression of the divine heart in love to man, when the church was guided to do and to regulate the opposite, on the first day of the week.
   

To do other than accept this divine provision in word and deed is either to reject that Christ is Lord-of-the- Sabbath (literally rest), OR his CHOICE OF DAY, both for His work and for its display, or that it is a NEW work that finishes the divine provision for the stature of man, or the testimony of His word, or some combination. In this way would be avoided the fact that His rest is transferred TO the commemoration of what chiefly SECURED it, to that without which there would be neither form nor substance, neither vision nor experience of rest: in fact, to the day of His resurrection.

 

WHO did it?

HE did, by so acting to complete His works for man's restored stature to a new creation, in calling it so through His apostle Paul (I Cor. 2:9-13, II Cor. 5:17), and in meeting with them in this condition on that day, the day of His own demonstrated personal choice. It was indeed on this day that He again appeared, again by divine choice, being present as the OBJECT OF WORSHIP and made clear the PRINCIPLE of faith involved for all time and for all people
(John 20:29).

THAT is indeed the "heritage of Jacob", since the Abrahamic covenant (Isaiah 58:14), was confirmed to Jacob. Is it not written that:

"it was not written for his sake alone,

that it was imputed to him,

but for us also,

to whom it shall be imputed,

if we believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord, from the dead;
who was delivered for our offences,
and was raised again for our justification" !

Abraham was the forerunner. Thus the covenant with him, explicitly the forerunner of what is now satisfied in the death and resurrection of Christ, the vital reality overarching in its fulfilment, both of the covenants.

CHRIST to bless all nations is in view; and in Him, there is a rest which rests on what He has done, which is exhibited on the NEXT day after the Saturday of old, just as it is the NEXT work following creation which it attests. For without the crucifixion there is no NEED for a resurrection; and without the resurrection, there is no POINT in the crucifixion, which is not merely to show suffering, but effectual suffering; not merely to show the experience of apartness which sin brings, but to show the restoration of togetherness, which Christ's victory over death secures.

Now this wonderfully challenging promise, this blessing searches the heart. The specifications in Isaiah 58:13-14 try the conscience and require a love of the Lord for them to be successfully implemented; and indeed, without a love for the Lord, heaven is hell and hell is hell indeed!

Let us then look hard at this Isaiah 58:13-14:

"If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,

From doing your pleasure on My holy day,

And call the Sabbath a delight,

The holy day of the Lord honourable,

And shall honour Him, not doing your own ways,

Nor dinging your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words.

Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord,

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

The mouth of the Lord has spoken."

THEN, if you do this, if your whole spirit is so charged and your whole being is so surrendered to the Lord in terms of a non-competitive day for Him, where the sweat of your brow is no more the consideration, but the drawing very close to the One who redeemed you from such a life as ALL, into the life that is eternal, where there will be no more curse, and labour in its precincts: IF, I say, you do this, and so use the day with the rest that rejoices in the reality of the risen Lord as source of all rest, and does not defile His latest work by despising it, resting on some other day, as if the New Testament had never happened, or as if He had NOT said He was Lord of the Sabbath, or as if Moses was greater than Christ (Hebrews 8:7-13, 4:, 3:3-6), or as if Moses had not prophesied the One who word MUST be obeyed (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) : then what ?

Then says the word of the prophet, the word of God, then you shall DELIGHT yourself in the Lord. HE IS delightful. So act and you will find it so.

Thus the heart which obeys this summons, this spiritual beneficence, for it is a great deliverance to have appointed by supreme authority, such rest in spirit as Calvary and the resurrection bring, and such rest for the whole psyche and body as Sunday brings: it is one which DELIGHTS in God.  It is not a mere formalism, nor is it a functional  co-operation simply to make the best of things, and especially it is not a gain situation, where you compute that working with and for God is far safer and more profitable than not: for you may well be crucified!

It is a felicitous response to His wonder and beauty of holiness, power and splendour, it is this which the Sunday rest enables to develop while the Lord draws near (cf. John 14:21-23); and just as it has been said, the one who is filled with the Spirit is not the person who believes in it, or the one who wants it but the one who obeys the Lord, so it is; for so it is written (Acts 5:32 indicates such a thing).

Moreover as you obey God, working FOR Him and this without a nether eye to your own desires, though needs are met and faith is led as by a Friend, so you grow, and as you grow so does His hand reach more of you, for spiritually there is more, and so a friendship with God grows as you become more attuned, developed, strengthened, sufficed and energetically loving towards Him. This is impossible if you do not love Him with all your heart, or seek with all of it to do so; and if you do, it is a delight all over again.

What now does Psalm 37 say? Delight yourself also in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart! Here is the anti-psychiatric treatment. This is not to dull the anguish but to remove its cause!

This is more ambitious by far: here we do not LIMIT the DAMAGE, but DAMAGE THE LIMITS which the flesh would wrongly put on the spirit of man, and draw near to the holy joy of the presence of Him who made us.

Look now well at this passage in Isaiah 58, and examine its contents piece by piece, for though it is broken up into elements, it is like a garment, all one in the  end,  a felicitous use of the day of rest for that dearth of interruption, except in godly service and worship and praise, that concentration on what is not corrupted and on what is potent in grace, that abundance of blessing which the Lord in His wisdom may dower and increase.

 

*2

We retain our IMAGE as in our creation (cf. Colossians 3:10, as Paul shows, and nature declares). It is NOT as if because we (Christians) are REDEEMED, we cease to have been CREATED! As SURELY as we were created the way we were, SO SURELY we are to REST on Sunday. THAT is what the word of God declares (Exodus 20:11). While we are in THIS WORLD, THAT IS how we are commanded to behave.

 

*3 THE REST SELECTION, BOTH SOVEREIGN AND SUBSTANTIAL

For some, a further and more intimate look at Colossians 2 re rest, may seem helpful. It is not really necessary, but it may be expedient, and for those this endnote is further supplied.

One might first refer to that great OLD TESTAMENT passage of Isaiah 26:3:

YOU WILL KEEP HIM IN PERFECT PEACE WHOSE MIND IS STAYED ON YOU: BECAUSE HE TRUSTS IN YOU!

Forsaking the clear teaching of the word of God on spiritual rest and the day of rest yields THE SUNDAY TRAGEDY: DEFIANCE OF THE DIVINE IN TERMS OF LIBERATION FROM THE WORD OF GOD, AND CONFUSION OF THE REST ALWAYS PRESCRIBED, with THE CREATION SPECIFICS FOR THIS DAY!

COLOSSIANS 2:16 advises you not to let people judge you concerning sabbaths. I do not! Some say, You may not swim, or walk or whatever it may be. But to me, the issue is clear: IS IT or IS IT NOT in conformity with the SPIRIT of the day of REST that which 'sabbath' means) to do this ? of REST IN THE LORD, of HONOURING THE LORD, DEEMING HIS SPECIAL DAY A DELIGHT, or is it not ? THAT is how each issue for the Sunday is to be considered: not by YOU but by me, and as to that, by ME IN THE WORD OF THE LORD, for the whole establishment, if you like, of formalities and ceremonies and particularities in this sphere is PAST. So it is with all of us.

ALL THAT was a 'shadow'; but the REST ITSELF was no shadow. Indeed, if you look at what Paul is saying, here, instead of considering some substitute in philosophy which gazes at Paul but then does what it pleases: PAUL says, of these sabbaths: - 'which are a shadow of things TO COME, but the substance is of Christ'. Now the eternal rest is indeed focussed by the variety of sabbaths, of rests and releases, including the jubilee year of deliverance and so on; but the specific ONE DAY IN SEVEN DAY OF REST has two special features, yes three.

1) It REFERS SPECIFICALLY to things PAST! Thus in Exodus 20, God tells Moses that man must rest because of... WHAT GOD HIMSELF HAS DONE IN THE PAST! even then! Thus any attempt to sacrifice the day of rest on the altar of the future, by those misreading or even misquoting Paul, is out of the question. Rest one day in seven as a creature of our God is not an option.

2) This one day in seven day of rest is instituted on a STATED GROUND. It is not only that it relates TO WHAT GOD HIMSELF DID IN THE PAST, rather than to the future category which Paul notes in referring to the varied sabbaths the Jews had, as something in common; it is ALSO referring to a GROUND for keeping it at all... and THAT GROUND is in the PAST.

3) Yet this is not all. Not merely is it a thing in the past, not in the future, which seals the irrevocable character of l day of rest in 7 for man on earth; nor merely is it a question of a STATED GROUND for keeping it at all, drawn from the past ­ from what was EVEN THEN a thing past in the actions of God. There is this also. The ground for this day of rest is a thing operative in man BECAUSE of its past character. It is not only past in fact, but past in principle. It is not only something given by God because of what HE did in the past; it is moreover given by God BECAUSE THE THING HE DID WAS IN THE PAST.

It is ALL past, emphatically past; but the Colossians reference is all and emphatically future. Nor is this all, for there is a substance pattern relationship of GOD­man, of GOD the MAKER and man the made; of man having to honour this day BECAUSE GOD HIS MAKER, IN WHOSE IMAGE MAN IS MADE, did so ... giving man a ground for such rest. Moreover, this is what GOD STATES, in reviewing the matter. He declares this ground for doing likewise.

Now if you could ABOLISH the 10 commandments

(Christ, you recall STATED He did not come to destroy but to fulfil the law, and Paul that he does not destroy but rather establishes the law ­ Matthew 5 and Romans 3 respectively):

on the ground that God

is not really moral but merely plays around with moral questions for interest,

is not in fact holy but pragmatic:

so blaspheming indelibly;

and if you could at your say­ so,

REMOVE THE SUBSTANCE -

the actual rest ordered for one day in seven;

and if you could pretend you were removing only the shadow;

and if you could also make the things to come, which Paul mentions,

by some magic come to include things past, thereby contradicting the word of God and subtracting from it, both - which God deplores, rather understandably:

then you would still have to re­make man in some other image (so that God's prototype action, statedly resting straight after HIS series of 6 actions),

and re­make God's mind in some other way, which would mean He would not then STATE that HE wanted this rest in MAN on ONE DAY IN SEVEN BECAUSE that was how He made man.

All in all, you would have a spiritual blood­bath; and that of course is what they really did at the crucifixion. It is always inclined to be a spiritual (sometimes also a biological) blood­bath when you manipulate the word of God. (See the contrary in II Cor.4:2.)

To all this, I have only one word of ADVICE: DON'T TRY IT! Rather, REST on the one day in seven, and now on that day which the Church used to commemorate the greatest of all the works God has done for man and in creation. That day ? It is the day of THE RESURRECTION FOLLOWING THE CRUCIFIXION FOR SIN not His own ­ on the part of Christ. If this does not appeal, why talk about Christians things at all! If it does appeal, then do it! REST from your work, on THIS DAY.

Even in the days of King David, the SPIRITUAL and CONTINUAL rest which is a category of the faith relationship to God, was ardently offered ­ yes, right in the midst of the days of the law, and hundreds of years before Christ even came, let alone paid for sin (as Psalm 95 makes exceedingly clear). It always was the manner of life or faith in the Lord and its FAILURE ALWAYS WAS A FAULT BEFORE GOD! It is NOT that it was not available. God is always available and is always in His friendship, the scrutineer and supplier of rest. Yes, then as now. Hebrews 4 deals with this perennial matter of resting in quietness and confidence in the law, with a disciplined spirit on the basis of His covenant.