All through the Old Testament Scriptures, every type, symbol, shadow, ceremony, and mystery (secret) to come which both Jesus and the Apostle Paul revealed (Isaiah 53, Mark 4:10, Eph. 3:1-5) pointed forward to Jesus Christ - The Messiah and Saviour - who was the ultimate fulfillment of all His prophecies when He came to this earth (4 BC), lived among men, was crucified (AD 30), buried, rose Himself and others as the first-fruits of His Salvation, appeared to many for 40 days, ascended to heaven taking resurrected saints with Him, returned to raise the rest of the dead and rapture the living saints to their eternal home (AD 66), and administered judgment and retribution upon His enemies with His saints present to judge them in AD 70 - and is now sitting at the right hand of God as our Advocate thus fulfilling His total Redemption for those who believe in Him!
Thus, in Old Testament times, instructions were given to the Israelites (Jewish Nation) to keep holy (without any works on their part) the seventh-day sabbath as a reminder of God as their Creator (Exodus 16:23; 20:8-11) and Jesus Christ their Redeemer. The seventh-day sabbath was one of many sabbaths (festivals) they were to observe as part of their ceremonial laws. The other festivals were:
During the time Jesus Christ was upon earth, He observed all of the Jewish ceremonial laws and sabbath festivals, including the seventh-day sabbath, as He had not yet fulfilled their meaning until He was offered as the Sacrifice for all humankind. At the time Jesus died on the cross, all ceremonial laws and sabbath festivals were fulfilled and finished. Thus the Old Covenant vanished away!
"And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst [representing the pierced and torn body of Jesus - The Most Holy Sin Offering]. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." Luke 23:45. 46.
"This significant event symbolized Christ's work on the cross. The Temple had three parts: the courts for all the people; the Holy Place, where only priests could enter; and the Holy of Holies, where the High Priest alone could enter once a year to atone for the sins of the people. It was in the Holy of Holies that the Ark of the Covenant, and God's presence with it, rested. The curtain that split was the one that closed off the Holy of Holies from view. At Christ's death, the barrier between God and man was torn apart. Now all people are able to approach God directly through Christ." - Life Application Bible, p. 1785.
Another Day Given - "Today"
"Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)" Hebrews 3:7-11.
"God's Rest has several meanings in Scripture: (1) the seventh day of creation and the weekly Sabbath commemorating it (Gen 2:2; Heb 4:4-9); (2) the Promised Land of Canaan (Deut 12:8-12); Psalm 95); (3) peace with God now because of our relationship with Christ through faith (Matt 12:28; Heb 4:1, 3, 8-11); and (4) our future eternal life with Christ (Heb 4:8-11). All of these meanings were probably familiar to the Jewish Christian readers of Hebrews." - Life Application Bible, p. 2160.
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today [Christ's reign in each believer's heart]; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:12-19.
"Our hearts lead us away from the living God when we stubbornly refuse to believe him. If we persist in our unbelief, God will eventually leave us alone in our sin. But God can give us new hearts, new desires, and new spirits (Ezekiel 36:22-27). To prevent an unbelieving heart, stay in fellowship with other believers, talk daily about your mutual faith, and encourage one another with love and concern. The Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land because they did not believe in God's protection. They did not believe God would help them conquer the land (see Num 14, 15). So God sent them into the wilderness to wander for 40 years, an unhappy alternative to the wonderful gift he had planned for them. Lack of trust in God always prevents us from receiving his best." - Life Application Bible, p. 2160.
It is interesting to note that a direct walking route from Egypt to Canaan only takes 11 days today! Yes, Jesus is the Quickening Spirit. The ancient Nation of Israel - by unbelief - made for themselvces a strong delusion - which many unbelievers still do today!
Christ Is The Sabbath Rest
"Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 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." Hebrews 4:7-11.
"Our rest in Christ begins when we trust him to complete his good and perfect work in us. God gave Israel the opportunity to enter Canaan, but they failed because they didn't trust him (Num 13, 14). Now God offers another opportunity to enter his ultimate place of rest - he invites us to come to Christ. To enter his rest, you must believe that God has this relationship in mind for you; you must cease from your own efforts to create it; you must trust in Jesus to bring you God's rest; and you must determine to follow him in obedience. NOW is the time to believe in Christ, to enter his place of rest, and to find peace with God. Tomorrow may be too late." - Life Application Bible, p. 2161.
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Colossians 2:16, 17.
"The purpose of the Old Testament laws, holidays, and feasts was simply to point toward Christ. Paul calls them shadows of the real thing - Christ himself. Once Christ came, he dispelled the shadows." - Life Application Bible, p. 2102.
Thoughts To Ponder
Q. Can all time be considered Holy Time?
A. "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it...." Romans 14:4-6.
Q. Is there any time when God is not a Holy God?
A. This world is forever, as God made it to be forever (Eph. 3:21). He is the Creator of all worlds of heaven and earth as well. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).
The only two Israelite survivors from Egypt to go into the Promised Land of Canaan were Joshua and Caleb. They are a representation of the two facets of the New Testament that there is another "generation" that would believe and trust Christ of the New Testament - a Spiritual Kingdom Of God which is a foretaste of the Eternal Spiritual Kingdom Of Heaven Divine as Jesus said: "My kingdom is not of this world [cosmos]" (John 18:36a).
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Life Application Bible Notes Used By Permission. Life Application Study Bible © 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved. Life Application is a registered trademark of Tyndale Publishers, Inc.
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