The power of the cross creates and continues to work in all creation. When God creates it is "very good." So in Christ, there is "a new creation." "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10.
God wants us to think about His works all the time. When God had finished His work of creation in six days, "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had done in creation." Genesis 2:2, 3
Through the cross we are crucified to the world and the world to us. By the cross we are 'sanctified' [sin is removed from our life]. Sanctification is the work of God, not of man. In the beginning God sanctified the Sabbath as a memorial of His creative work, the evidence that His work was finished. Therefore He says, "Moreover I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them." Ezekiel 20:12.
So we see that the Sabbath is the memorial of creation, and redemption is creation, creation through the cross. In the cross we find the complete and perfect works of God and we are clothed with them. Being crucified with Christ means inviting Jesus into my heart and giving Him full control. In Him we rest. In Him we find Sabbath. Resting upon the seventh day of the week is the sign of a new creation as seen in the cross, a rest from sin.
1. Who rested from work on the 7th day?
Genesis 2:1-3
Note: The 7th day was a day of rest for God from all His Work which He had done. True rest can only be experienced when the work is done. As a result God is the only one who can ever truly rest from His work.
2. Who does the Sabbath belong to?
Exodus 20:8-11
Note: The Sabbath is God's memorial to His works of creation. Deuteronomy 5:15 says, "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." The Sabbath is a memorial both at Creation and at Redemption.
3. What does a heart of unbelief do?
Hebrews 3:12
4. What does unbelief keep a person from entering?
Hebrews 3:18-19
Note: The word "sabbath" in Hebrew simply means rest. So in failing to enter His rest they were failing to enter sabbath rest.
5. What did Christ invite Thomas to do in response to his unbelief?
John 20:27
Note: The attention was drawn to the wounds of the cross.
6. What impact does the cross have on unbelief?
John 20:28
Note: Christ crucified and risen, is the message, the argument, the doctrine, and the warning to every sinner. Hanging upon the cross Christ was the gospel. No one who catches a vision of Jesus crucified can walk away with a lingering doubt. Unbelief is gone.
7. When the Gospel was preached to the people what did they fail to enter?
Hebrews 4:1-2
Note: How did they come short of it? By not seeing Christ crucified with themselves in the sacrifices which they were offering.
8. How do we enter God's Rest?
Hebrews 4:3
Note: But somebody will say, "Well, I don't believe it is necessary for me to keep the Sabbath." The Lord would say to them, "You cannot keep it, because only those who believe can enter into My rest." Only those who believe enter into God's rest, and those who do not believe cannot enter into God's rest.
9. What day is linked in some way with God's Rest?
Hebrews 4:4-5
10. What invitation does Jesus give to those who are worn out?
Matthew 11:28-30
Note: Do you know what makes us weary and tired, it is the pride of life that makes us think that we can and must do everything ourselves. But we can't do it, and that is what makes us tired. It is a simple fact that it is not the work that men do, so much as the work that they cannot do, that tires them? It is the work they try to do and fail to accomplish that tires them.
11. What evidence is there that we have entered His Rest?
Hebrews 4:9, 10
12. What is the Sign that we have entered His Rest?
Ezekiel 20:12
13. What connected with the seventh day Sabbath is holy?
Leviticus 23:3
Note: The word Convocation means to call together a meeting. So like Christ, our custom will also be to go to church on the 7th day, the holy convocation of God's people.
When Christ was nailed upon the cross, what were the last words he uttered? - "It is finished." What was finished? - The new creation. As we invite Jesus into our hearts He crucifies self for us and then raises us to a new life in Christ. The 7th day Sabbath is the sign of Christ's power to make us holy. Therefore the 7th day Sabbath is the sign of the perfect rest.