The Rest Is Up To You

by Rabbi

I would like to qualify this particular blog as it is meant to be a time of sharing. In no way should this blog be received as legalistic or "Law." It is an opportunity for the Lord's love to be revealed in a way that many may not know. Salvation rest in Yeshua alone that is the only Truth. However, being his disciples opens the way to walking in a freedom that will bring to light a rich heritage that is so often missed. With open hearts allow Ruach HaKodesh - The Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 Then he said to them, “Shabbat was made for mankind, not mankind for Shabbat; So the Son of Man is Lord even of Shabbat.” Mark 2:27-28

Only heaven and nothing else. What a statement. There is truly nothing else other than our Eternal Father's will. This is the most important for Yeshua. Yeshua states as recorded in John 4:34 " My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." As part of his Father's will, the Shabbat was key. The Shabbat is the culmination of all our labor. It is like a snapshot of the heaven - or the next reality for God's people. There are spiritual realities with tangible counterparts that can be experienced. The Shabbat is one of those tangible counterparts.

The Shabbat is to be experienced weekly. The Shabbat as part of the covenant God made with the sons of Israel is meant to last forever. When something is said to last forever in the Hebrew thought, it is to say for all time. Our Eternal Father is the Architect of time. According to Jewish tradition, the Shabbat is a palace in time with a kingdom for all. It is not a date but an atmosphere. It is a realm where time does not control our humanity. When I speak of time I am referring to how we are "time" driven. We live in a technical civilization controlled by time. We wake up at a certain time. We sleep at a certain time. We go to work at a certain time. We play at a certain time. We eat at a certain time. We exercise at a certain time. We go to school at a certain time. We even go to church or do personal devotion at a certain time. There are so many things done at certain times that it makes me think that time is the master of all things. Time is man's elusive conquest of space. Every person born is given a life in time - "lifetime." A life is nothing more than a space in time. Technology as great as it may be, stem from our desire to subdue and manage those influences within a sphere of influence. Daily we seek out our place in the world only to be controlled by whatever it is we are trying to do or become. Time is truly at the heart of our existence. When you look at everything through what is being shared life can be somewhat discouraging. But this is not the case

Salvation is the gift of freedom, yet believers are "slaves" to religious mindsets that hinder the very freedom they were given. There is much enthusiasm for the idea that God is present in the world, but that idea is taken to mean His presence in the "far away out there." But God is Spirit and not a thing. He is not history though time does unfold "HIS-STORY." It is difficult for the primitive mind to realize the notion with the aid of imagination that there is a realm within time where holiness and humanity come together. A god that can be imagined is a god that can be contained by the imagination that formed it. I say this because the Shabbat gives us a space in an appointed time to not imagine but to engage and be renewed, refreshed and restored in ways that no other day can offer. While it is true Yeshua is Lord of the Shabbat, but the Word of God is eternal and in the Shabbat, there is spoken rest filled promises.

The Shabbat serves as a weekly transitory tabernacle where heaven meets earth in order to retain the holy and to perpetuate the Lord's holiness. Shabbat is the seventh day of the week. This connects the other six days of the week. The Shabbat is considered as the center because three days we are moving away from it and three days we are moving toward it. All the days revolve around the Shabbat. Even though the seventh day is the end to a progressive creation, the core of everything is because of the rest. It is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Shabbat. God rests on the seventh day. His rests activate creation to function by His design. Like our Creator, we see what has been accomplished by the rest we enter into, not by the work we have done. We do no laborious work on the seventh day because we taste heaven where all is complete and perfect.

Shabbat is the day of connection. There are six days in which creation is created. [See Genesis 1] There are six directions in time. East, West, North, South, up and down. What connects these directions is the seventh position which is the center. All these points begin at the place of initiating a direction. You cannot go North unless you leave the place that is centered. Likewise, the seventh day is the detached day that celebrates time rather than the space you occupy. Time in Hebrew culture is not exclusively a clock, a day, a week, a month or a year. Time is when you see the Lord's word come into the earth. When you see what you see it is because it was time for it to come by God's will. Everything we see is because of our Father's will. The fullness of time brings eternity into a reality for us to experience. Six days we live under the domination of time but on the seventh day, we align ourselves with an divinely appointed holiness. We are to be mindful "remember" and we are to guard "keep" it by setting the Shabbat apart from all the other days.

Anyone who wants to enter the holiness of the day must lay aside the world's chatter of toiling. We are invited into the Lord's palace weekly. The Lord's rest is cultivated; our trust in Him grows. The seed of eternity is planted in our souls as the mind, will, and body comes into alignment with who we are yoked to. The Shabbat is not about trying to figure out what is allowed and what is not. It is about drawing close during the Lord's sign of the covenant. There are three things in that first Shabbat we should take note of. Eternal Father rested. He blessed it and He sanctified it. The likeness of God is found when we follow after our Lord and King - Yeshua. Taking on the yoke of Yeshua is receiving His completed work as well as obeying the perfecting work of the Word. The Shabbat creates a social order that can call forth an intrinsic value to our lives. We honor our souls when we are elevated spiritually during the Shabbat. The essence of the Shabbat is seeing the Lord as the great shepherd that makes us lie down in green pastures; He leads us beside the still waters and restores our soul.

There is a Jewish prayer that is prayed six evenings a week and it goes like this. "Guard our going out and our coming in." But on the Shabbat, we pray "Embrace us with a tent of Your peace." The majesty of the seventh day can only be found when it is acknowledged as holy. We cannot change how we count one...two...three... four...five...six....seven.  The seventh day completes us as we center our lives around the center of time.  We have something so incredible to share with those we love when it comes to the Shabbat.  We have a praise with He who is Love when we enter His rest together. Enter into His gates with praise and His courts giving thanks. To celebrate or to not celebrate....the rest is up to you

Shabbat Shalom R'Yisrael