Deepening the Well

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Deepening the Well

• Book of Genesis
• Session Nine

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The Book of Genesis

• Chapter 21-3
• The Seventh Day and the Sabbath (Shabbat)

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The Seventh Day
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed,
and all their hosts. And 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 21-3
No evening (erev) or morning (boqer)
no further act of creation took placewhile on
each of the six days events took place contrary
to the natural laws now in operation throughout
the Universe, on the seventh day the Universe was
upheld Maimonodes Guide for the Perplexed,
Part I, Chapter 67
A Repose encompassed the Universe
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The Seventh Day
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed,
and all their hosts. And 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 21-3
All the laws of the universe (physical,
spiritual, moral) established and stable
But I, the LORD, make the following promise I
have made a covenant governing the coming of day
and night. I have established the fixed laws
governing heaven and earth. - Jeremiah 3325 (NET
Bible)
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The Seventh DayThe Day of Gods Rest and Ours
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Framework for Discussion

• What is the Sabbath (Shabbat)?
• Two views of or approaches to observing the
  Sabbath
• The role of the Sabbath
• Past
• Present
• Future
• My thoughts and your thoughts

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What is Shabbat?An Overview

• Sabbath days, weeks, years
• We are concerned only with the day for now

The seventh day of the Jewish calendar week
(Saturday)

• Commemorates the Creator and His completed work
  (Gen 23)
• Is given to man for rest from his labors (Deut
  514)
• Prophesies of the Sabbath rest to come (Hebrews
  4)

• Shabbat A special day set aside to
• Rest from our labors
• Reflect on God works and purposes
• Fellowship and break bread with believers
• Worship

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New Covenant or Old?Two Basic Approaches
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Two Views or Approaches
Should it be observed under New Covenant?

• Extreme View

• Giving it too much focus
• Giving it no thought at all

• Balanced View

To find perspective, we need some background!
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Role of the ShabbatPast, Present, and Future
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The PastInstituted by God in Israel
Ten Negotiable Guidelines (a.k.a. Commandments)
Then God spoke all these words, saying, I am the
LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall
have no other gods before Me. You shall not
make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of
what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath
or in the water under the earth. You shall not
worship them or serve them for I, the LORD your
God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers on the children, on the third and the
fourth generations of those who hate Me, but
showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who
love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not
take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for
the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes
His name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to
keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath
of the LORD your God in it you shall not do any
work, you or your son or your daughter, your male
or your female servant or your cattle or your
sojourner who stays with you. For in six days
the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea
and all that is in them, and rested on the
seventh day therefore the LORD blessed the
sabbath day and made it holy. - Exodus 201-17
(NAS)
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The PastInstituted by God in Israel
Ten Negotiable Guidelines (a.k.a. Commandments)
Honor your father and your mother, that your days
may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your
God gives you. You shall not murder. You
shall not commit adultery. You shall not
steal. You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor. You shall not covet your
neighbor's house you shall not covet your
neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female
servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that
belongs to your neighbor." - Exodus 201-17 (NAS)
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The PastInstituted by God in Israel
Did God think it was important?
Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you
refuse to keep My commandments and My
instructions? See, the LORD has given you the
sabbath therefore He gives you bread for two
days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his
place let no man go out of his place on the
seventh day." So the people rested on the
seventh day. - Exodus 1628-30 (NAS)
Serious Consequences for Failure to Observe
'For six days work may be done, but on the
seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest,
holy to the LORD whoever does any work on the
sabbath day shall surely be put to death. -
Exodus 3115 (NAS)
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The PastInstituted by God in Israel

• Abuses inevitable
• Unnecessary rules increased (likely in response
  to both fear and devotion)
• Teachers of the law held people to the letter of
  tradition and neglected the spirit
• The letter in neglect of the needs of humanity
  became an abomination to God

"Bring your worthless offerings no longer,
Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and
sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- I cannot
endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. - Isaiah
113
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The PastSabbath in Jesus Time

• By Jesus Time Jesus almost intentionally
  defies these practices of external observance
• Plucking grain on the sabbath (Matt 121-4 MK
  223-26 Luke 61-4)
• Priests in the temple profane the sabbath and
  are guiltless (Matt 125)
• Heals on the sabbath 7 times
• Demoniac (Mark 121-27)
• Peters mother-in-law (Mark 129-31)
• Paralytic in Jerusalem (John 51-9)
• Man with withered hand (Matt 128-14 Mark
  31-6)
• Woman who could not straighten up (Luke
  1310-17)
• Man with dropsy (Luke 141-6)
• Man born blind (John 91-14)

Establishes His Lordship over the Sabbath
"For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. -
Matthew 128
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The PastSabbath in Jesus Time
The heart of the matter
The sabbath was made for man, not man for the
sabbath - Mark 227
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The PresentSabbath in Church Age

• Early Church
• Acts 15 Counsel at Jerusalem
• Romans 14 Let no one act as judge

Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard
to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a
new moon or a Sabbath day -- things which are a
mere shadow of what is to come but the substance
belongs to Christ. - Colossians 216-17
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The PresentSabbath in Future
Sabbath will exist in the new millenium
"For just as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I make will endure before Me," declares the
LORD, "So your offspring and your name will
endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will
come to bow down before Me," says the LORD. -
Isaiah 6622-23
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The Present
Some things to think about

• Legalism fixates on the minute details of the
  command and weighs its standing against
  performance
• Life wells up a desire to honor the commands of
  law giver and seeks true adheranceRemember, the
  creation and Gods law prophesy of who He is,
  what He has done, and what He will do
• Still, We need a little more reverence
  regarding our relationship to God. We have grown
  so culturally accustomed to doing it our way
  that we are lackadaisical about doing it
  according to the pattern He has set out
• The temple was built from the original in heaven

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The Present
Some things to think about

• Jesus did command some ritual observance
  communion which we do largely without complaint.
  Does it save usno. Did Jesus command us to do
  it in remembrance of Him? Yes.

For I received from the Lord that which I also
delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the
night in which He was betrayed took bread and
when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said,
"This is My body, which is for you do this in
remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the
cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the
new covenant in My blood do this, as often as
you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as
often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. - 1
Corinthians 1123-26
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Schedule for Coming Weeks

• Unit One Pre-History
• EASTER Take a break
• Chapters 2 and 3 (Adam and Eve and the Fall)
• Chapters 4 and 5 (Cain and Abel when sin
  crouches at your door, and the generations of
  Adam)
• Chapter 6 (the days of Noah)
• Chapters 7, 8, and 91-19 (the flood)
• Chapters 920-29, 10 and 11 (the spread of the
  nations and the rebellion at Shinar)
• Discussion session to reflect on and wrap up Unit
  One