Jëan Ross: Hello, friends, welcome to "Sabbath School Study Hour" here at the Granite Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. I'd like to welcome our friends who are joining us across the country and around the world, part of our extended Sabbath School class. And also our regular Sabbath School members right here, and we have some visitors who are joining us today. I'd like to welcome all of you to our study time. Now, we're on the third lesson of a 13-part series, which is our new lesson quarterly dealing with the subject of "The Least of These." Today, we have a very important lesson, it's lesson number three. And the title for today's lesson is "The Sabbath: A Day of Freedom." And that'll be our study for this morning, "The Sabbath: A Day of Freedom."
But before we get to our study, just like to remind our friends who are watching online and those on the various networks, we do have a free offer that goes along with our study today dealing with the Sabbath, it's entitled, "The Rest of Your Life." And we'll be happy to send this to anybody who calls and asks, all you need to do is call our resource phone line at 866-788-3966 and you can ask for the free offer "The Rest of Your Life." That is free offer 1--or 813. You can also get a digital copy of this free offer by texting SH086 to the number 40544. And again, you can just ask for our free offer, "The Rest of Your Life." We'll be happy to send this out to anyone who asks, and this is a magazine focused on the Sabbath truth, all of the biblical reasons for the Sabbath, how one can enjoy the blessing of the Sabbath, it's all here in our free offer. Well, before we get to our study, I'd like to invite our song leaders to come forward, and they'll be leading us in a song together, and then we'll get ready for our study time.
Good morning and happy Sabbath, everybody. Please open your hymnals and joining us in singing 338, "Redeemed."
♪ ♪ Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it.
♪ ♪ Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
♪ ♪ Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
♪ ♪ His child, and forever, I am.
♪ ♪ Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
♪ ♪ by the blood of the Lamb.
♪ ♪ Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it,
♪ ♪ His child and forever I am.
♪ ♪ I think of my blessed Redeemer, I think
♪ ♪ of Him all the day long.
♪ ♪ I sing, for I cannot be silent, His love is
♪ ♪ the theme of my song.
♪ ♪ Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
♪ ♪ by the blood of the Lamb.
♪ ♪ Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it,
♪ ♪ His child and forever I am.
♪ ♪ I know I shall see in his beauty the King
♪ ♪ in whose law I delight.
♪ ♪ Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps,
♪ ♪ and giveth me song in the night.
♪ ♪ Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the
♪ ♪ blood of the Lamb.
♪ ♪ Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it,
♪ ♪ His child and forever I am.
Thank you for singing with us.
Jëan: Let's bow our heads. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Dear Father in heaven, we thank You once again that we're able to gather together and open up Your Word and study a very important subject. Matter of fact, we're going to be talking about this special day today, talking about the Sabbath. And so we do pray that Your Holy Spirit to come and guide our hearts and minds. And we ask this all in Jesus's name, amen. Now, as mentioned, we're going to be studying an important subject dealing with the Sabbath today, it's lesson number three in our lesson quarterly. I'd like to invite Pastor Doug to come forward, it's a great subject, and we thought, well, let's share teach on our subject of the Sabbath today. So, Pastor Doug?
Doug Batchelor: Amen, thank you, Pastor Ross. And welcome, everybody. We're glad that you're joining us here. Pastor Ross and I have been gone a couple of weeks in Michigan taping a new series of programs for kids. And we had a great experience while we were there, but it's good to be back home. Want to welcome those who might be watching on satellite, 3ABN, Hope Channel, Roku, Facebook, and of course our friends here. We have an extended church family out there, and we're getting into this study of "The Least of These." And in particular, our study today is really about some different aspects of the Sabbath. And if you look in the lesson, we have a memory verse, the memory verse comes to us from Mark chapter 2, verse 27. And you can say this with me, most of us know this, Mark chapter 2 verse 27, "The Sabbath--" All right, well I mean, let's start all over again. We can try to do that together. "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath." That's a very important verse, and you'll see a little later on in our lesson why that's so important.
You know, Pastor Ross, I thought it might be a good idea to establish before we dive into the lesson, many people think that the Sabbath is something that God created at Mount Sinai and gave to the children of Israel. But the Bible tells us the Sabbath appears when first? Right, creation. But you'd be surprised, people argue, they say, "Well, God created the Sabbath back there on the seventh day, but he didn't really ask anyone to keep it until you get to Genesis." Or rather until you get to Exodus chapter 20, is that true? So, what are the Scriptures that you use to reinforce that? Well, got a few here, I don't know if you want to dive in with any of them.
Jëan: Sure, absolutely. I think one of the key ones is Genesis chapter 2 and verse 3, and there we find three very important words talking about the Sabbath. It says, "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all the work which God had created made." So, here we find God blessing a day, God sanctifying a day, and God resting on that day, setting this day apart from the rest of the days of the week.
Doug: Now, it's hard to imagine that God has made man on what day of the week? Sixth day. And then after man is made, He makes something for man. Now, what was our memory verse? The Sabbath was made for the Jews. No, see, God makes man, mankind, Adam and Eve. And then the next day, He makes a day, and he sanctifies that day, makes it holy, and God rests that day. Wouldn't it be hard to believe that God rests that day, He sanctified that day, and He didn't expect Adam and Eve to do that with Him? Say, 'You guys do whatever you want, I'm resting today. I'm going to keep this day holy, but you don't have to." But that's actually what some people argue.
Jëan: You know, something else that's interesting, if you compare the two institutions that we are first introduced to in Genesis chapter 1 verse--chapter 1 and chapter 2, not only is the Sabbath introduced in the first few verses of Genesis chapter 2, but in Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, you have marriage that's introduced. And it's interesting to note that God blessed not only the Sabbath, but he also blessed marriage. Same word in the original Hebrew, blessed for marriage and blessed for the Sabbath. And I don't think anyone would argue that marriage is just, you know, for the Jew or that somehow marriage blessing came to an end when sin entered. Thus the Sabbath is not just for a particular group of people, it is really for mankind. Same blessing, same word used is used for both the Sabbath and marriage.
Doug: Amen. So, we read that the Sabbath was made for man way back in the Garden of Eden. Can someone think of something else that was made for man? Woman, it is not good that a man should be alone. So, if you think we no longer need the Sabbath, we probably also no longer need women. They were both part of God's original plan, isn't that right? For man. And you know, while we're on that subject, as Pastor Ross mentioned, these are two sacred institutions from Eden. Is God working to destroy those sacred institutions in the last days? Is God attacking marriage? No, no, no, it's Satan. It's Satan attacking marriage. Yeah, so Satan is attacking the institutions of God, marriage and what else? The Sabbath in the last days. And so that--it shouldn't surprise us that you're going to see that. And one other thing is when you say the Sabbath was made for man, the word "man" there is the word "Anthropos," and it means humanity, mankind. That's why the Bible says, "Even the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord that keep the Sabbath from polluting it, I'll make them joyful in my house of prayer." And so, this is something that's for all people and all time. You want to read Genesis 26, Pastor Ross?
Jëan: Yes, Genesis chapter--are you referring to Genesis—
Doug: Twenty-six, verse five. It's the second verse in—
Jëan: Oh, there it is. I see it right in my notes. Talking about Abraham, it says, "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My Statutes, and My laws." So, we're going from creation with Adam and Eve, moving forward in history, and now we're coming to Abraham. And here it tells us specifically that Abraham obeyed God and kept His commandments. Well, the commandments must've been known to Abraham in order for him to obey them.
Doug: Yeah, people think that the commandments and the laws and the statutes all came from Moses. Who lived first, Abraham or Moses? So, God evidently had statutes, commandments, and laws that predated. Now what--we know what the commandments are, Ten Commandments. Was it--was murder a sin before Mount Sinai, before the Ten Commandments were given? Where do we see that? Cain and Abel, God said, "Sin is at your door." Was adultery a sin before the Ten Commandments were given? Where do we see that? Joseph, remember he said, "How can I sin, take my master's wife?" Adultery, they knew adultery was a sin. And the Sabbath was also still there, but we've got to look at some other verses that I think help illustrate that. If you go for instance to Exodus 5. Well, I'm going to start with Exodus 4. So, this is after the call of Moses to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, and God says, "Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered--" This is Exodus 4:29, "Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel, and Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses." Now, why does Aaron speak and not Moses? Moses has been away. What language are the Israelites speaking in Egypt? Probably Egyptian and Hebrew. And so, what's happened to Moses's Egyptian after 40 years of not speaking it? Probably a little rusty. And so, that's why he said, "I'm slow of tongue." God said, "Well, don't worry, your brother, he'll speak for you." And so, this is why Aaron is being the spokesman now to the people. He's saying, "All the words the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of all the people." What else do you think they probably did there? They said, "God is going to move in your behalf. He's going to act for you. You need to humble yourself, return to the Lord, stop worshipping the gods of the Egyptians, worship Jehovah." And part of that would've included the Sabbath. Now, how do we know that? Pastor Ross, why don't you share with them what happens in Exodus 5?
Jëan: Reading from Exodus chapter 5 beginning verse 4, it says, "Then the king of Egypt said to them, 'Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.' And Pharaoh said, 'Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labors.'" So, that's of course Pharaoh now complaining because Moses and Aaron, they've spoken to the people, and evidently the people are choosing to rest. Well, that kind of ties in with the Sabbath.
Doug: Yeah, matter of fact, the word there--I don't know if any of you have interlinear Bibles or you might be reading your Bible on iPad or phone, you click on that word "rest" there and it is the word "Shabbat." So, specifically what the Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, "You are making the people Sabbath. And tell them to get back to work." And so, it's pretty clear that they had returned to this. Now, if that's not enough for you, get your credit cards out 'cause we're going to double your offer. If you go to Exodus chapter 16, and this is under the section where it says manna enough. What chapter are the Ten Commandments given? Exodus 20. So, before you ever get to Exodus 20, you read this in Exodus 16, verse 18. It says that God told them, "Look, they're hungry. I'll rain bread down from heaven for you. I will do it six days a week. You can get twice as much on the Sabbath." And he says in verse 18, "So when they measured it by--" Exodus 16, verse 18. So yeah, they got twice as much on the preparation day. "So when they measured it by omers, he who had gathered much had nothing left over, and he who had gathered a little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need." So, before we get into the manna in detail, just notice the placement of this, it's Exodus 16. And when they continued going out and looking for food, God said, "How long will you break My commandments?" And so, it was a commandment of God before they got to--and he didn't say, "How long will you break your commandments?" It's not a Jewish law, it says, "My commandments." Notice it's not called the Sabbath of the Jews, it's called the Sabbath of the Lord. And then further evidence that the Sabbath existed before Mount Sinai, what's the first few words of the Sabbath commandment, Exodus 20, verse 8? Remember. Why would God tell them to remember something that had never existed prior? Why would God tell them to keep something that had never existed prior? He said, "Look, I made it holy, keep it holy." And he's pointing back to when he made it holy right in the commandment, he goes back to Genesis, creation.
Jëan: Now, talking about the manna situation, every day manna rained down, they would gather it in the morning. But then God of course told them they wouldn't get manna on the Sabbath, they'd have to get a double portion Friday. And you read in Exodus chapter 16 that there was some in the camp of Israel that for some reason thought that God was joking and they didn't get double supply on Friday, and they wandered out of the camp on Sabbath to try and gather up manna, and there was no manna available. And then God said some rather interesting things to the children of Israel through Moses. This is of course before Exodus 20, before those Ten Commandments, before the fourth commandment is actually mentioned. It talks about how God is saying that they do not keep My laws. So, they were aware of the Sabbath even before Mount Sinai.
Doug: Mm-hmm, absolutely. Now, I don't want to rush past the manna section without reminding you, what time of day did the manna fall? Early in the morning. And what happened if they failed to go out and get it? The sun came up and it sort of melted. What does that manna represent? Jesus said that "Moses gave you not that bread, but I am the bread that came down from heaven." The Word of God is that bread. "Man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word." What about morning devotions? What happens if we wait until the troubles of the day crowd in on us? Can we lose that time to feed our souls in the morning? There's a precious time I think early in the day to commit yourself to the Lord and eat that manna. A great while before it was day, Jesus rose up and he went out to pray. I think it's important to take--to gather the manna. And something else that's in the lesson I think is interesting, we briefly mentioned because it's talking about manna enough. He told them how much to gather. Some of them, they thought, "Well, we don't know if it's going to go away. We better gather more." It seemed like no matter what God said, there was always somebody that didn't really believe what Moses said. And so they said, "Oh, we're not going to have enough," so they gathered extra. The Bible says but when they finally meted it out, they didn't have any extra. Some thought, "Well, I'll leave more for others because I don't want to take too much." They had the same amount. That's where it said, "He who gathered less had nothing over. He who had gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to one's need." Paul refers to this in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 13. He's talking about sharing. And he says, "For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened." I'm not saying you should work real hard and others just are taken care of by the church. "But there be an equality, that now at this time, your abundance might supply their lack, that their abundance may also supply your lack, that there might be an equality. As it is written, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no gains." So, here Paul is quoting from Exodus 16 in this passage. But on Friday, what happened? They were supposed to gather what we call the preparation date, twice as much. Every other day of the week if they hoarded it, what happened the next day? It stunk. Now, you notice first of all God told them not to gather too much, they didn't listen, some gathered too much. Then God said, "Now, don't keep it overly, nothing--" They didn't listen, some kept it over and it stunk. Then God said, "Don't go out Sabbath looking for it," but some went out looking for it. And he said, "How long will you refuse to keep My commandments?" One more thing, Pastor Ross, about the people who went out. Now, I just mention this because, you know, there are a few doctrines of devils out there. And I've even heard some Sabbath-keeping ministers tell people, they quote this phrase if you look in Exodus chapter 16 and in verse 29, he says, "See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place, let no one go out of his place on the seventh day." I've heard pastors take that verse and say you're not supposed to go to church. It says, "No man is supposed to go out of his place on the seventh day." That's not at all what it's talking about. They were going out and gathering wood and they were going out looking for manna. He said, "Don't go out foraging on the Sabbath looking for manna or looking for wood to build a fire. You're supposed to have kindled your fire before sundown." You notice it was not a sin for them to have a fire. You could have a fire. They were not to kindle a fire 'cause there was a lot of work involved back then in kindling a fire. Well, now you turn a knob. He said get your fire going, don't kindle a fire. They weren't told that they had to shiver all through the Sabbath those cold winters in the desert. They weren't to be kindling it. And so, in our house in the wintertime, we get the fire going before Sabbath. We keep it going through the Sabbath, you understand? That's very important. So, you're going to hear people say, I've actually heard it, you're not supposed to go out of your home on the Sabbath, you just keep it at home. Now, most of our Sabbath-keepers know better, but I've actually heard that twisted. And I've heard people say it's a sin to have a fire on a Sabbath. And I remember hearing Jimmy Swaggart saying, "Everybody who tries to keep the Sabbath when they drive to church, they're hypocrites 'cause every time your spark plug fires in your engine, you're kindling a fire on the Sabbath day. You are breaking the Sabbath when you drive to church." So, you hear some really strange things on the range out there.
Jëan: And of course, there's all kinds of traditions that came with time, and Jesus addressed these when he was on the earth because the Pharisees added all of these manmade traditions and regulations to the Sabbath where it really became a burden to the people. That's not what the Sabbath is about. It's not manmade traditions or regulations, it's simply taking the Word of God as it is. It's interesting to note at the end of that experience, where God speaks to Moses about the children of Israel going out to gather manna on the Sabbath, finally it says they learnt their lesson. This is verse 30 of Exodus chapter 16, it says, "So the people rested on the seventh day." They have learned sort of the hard way. First of all, they went out to gather manna or some of them went out to try and get, you know, twice as much during the week and not on Friday, and finally they learnt the lesson. "All right, God means what He says. Sabbath is indeed a blessing." Now, there's a number of miracles associated with the Sabbath and manna. What happened if they got manna twice as much during the other days of the week other than Friday morning? It spoiled. Whereas on Friday, a miracle occurred that the food not only lasted on Friday, but it also lasted through the Sabbath. And then another miracle on Sabbath, there was no manna. So, God made it pretty clear to the children of Israel which day of the week was his day, and that day was a day of worship, a day of rest, a day of blessing. Doug: Amen. While we're diffusing some of the misconceptions, the idea that you're just supposed to stay in your tent. Now, someone's going to read for me a verse in Leviticus 23:3, is that you, Vicky? All right, why don't you get ready for that? I'm going to read to you Ezekiel 44:24, "And they shall keep My laws, My statutes, and all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths." So, is staying home on the Sabbath day keeping the Sabbath day? What does he call it? A meeting. And you go ahead read your verse, this I think will help nail that truth down. Vicky: Leviticus 23:3, "Six days shall your work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." Doug: That word "convocation" means assembly. It was a time for them to convene. It's where we get convention. They were to come together and worship. And I just read to you Ezekiel. He said, "My appointed meetings." They were to meet together before the Lord. Of course, Jesus went to the synagogue. You know what the synagogue means? The gathering. They would gather together. He stood up to read the Scriptures. So, I say that because Sabbath is a day for recreation, some rest, but I know a lot of people that say, "Instead of going to church and gathering together in worship," they say, "I'm going to spend it, you know, in my RV up by the lake." And they say, "I'm going to spend it--you know, I'm just going to camp by myself and be one with God." And you know, I'm not trying to condemn people that do that, but technically part of the Sabbath command is a holy convocation, it is a time for us, yes, to go to church, to come together, to worship him. There's something that happens when we corporately come together.
Jëan: And even in the New Testament, we find that same principle where Paul writes the believers and says, "Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together." And says, "Especially as we see that day approaching." So, it's pretty clear that there was a gathering of believers and that would be on the Sabbath to worship, even in the New Testament. That Paul is encouraging believers together to gather to worship.
Doug: Now, they didn't have to gather. I mean, you could gather days other than the Sabbath, but certainly if there was an appointed day, it would've been the holy day. Thank you very much. And I think--why don't we move on to the second here, where it talks about two reasons for the Sabbath. And Pastor Ross, you want to read the verses there in Ezekiel?
Jëan: Yes, Ezekiel chapter 20, beginning in verse 12. We're looking for reasons for keeping the Sabbath. It says, "Moreover, so I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them." Now, it seems to note that the word used here in Ezekiel 20:12 is sanctify. The word used in Genesis chapter 2 with referencing the Sabbath also is sanctified, means to set apart for a holy use. So, the Sabbath is set apart from the rest of the week for a special holy use. Likewise the believer in Christ is to be set apart from the rest of the world, those who don't believe. We are set apart for a holy use. Thus the Sabbath becomes a sign that we are set apart for God. We are Christians, we believe the Bible; we are following Christ.
Doug: Amen, now, someone is going to read for us in just a moment Exodus 31:17. Here's where we're talking about what does it mean about a sign? I'm going to read first Deuteronomy 6, verse 8, speaking of the commandments. Now, God gives the Ten Commandments, two chapters they're given in their entirety. You know where they are? Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. In the New Testament, Jesus gives half of the Ten Commandments in one utterance when the rich young ruler comes to Him. But you don't have anywhere in the New Testament where they're given all ten in sequence. Here it says, "You shall bind them for a sign on your hand. They will be frontlets between your eyes." Where does the mark of a beast--the beast appear? The hand and in the forehead. Well, here it makes it sound that is the law of God the mark of the beast? Where's the seal of God appear? Forehead. In Ezekiel 9, it talks about God will put a mark in the foreheads of those who sigh and cry for all the sins, and they're the saved. In Ezekiel 9, the ones with the mark are the saved. Just keep in mind in the forehead and in the hand means in your thoughts and in your actions. In the Hebrew mind, it--and the people who do not have the law of God in their hands and in their head in the last days will have the mark of the beast in their hands and their head. But it was a sign. And so, one of those signs in the middle of God's law, I always like to illustrate this point, I think it's very valid. Sabbath is unique from the other Ten Commandments. It is unique in that it is the longest of the Ten Commandments. It's unique in that it is in the middle of the law. It's unique in that it is dealing with the dimension of time. It is a commandment that says what you are to do and you're not to do. Some commandments simply say, "Thou shalt not." The Sabbath says, "Thou shalt work. Thou shalt not work on this day." It's also unique in that it's the only commandment where you find the word "holy." And I think that's interesting because the temple in the Holy Land, in the holy city, on the holy mount, in the Holy of Holies, in the holy ark has the word "holy" one time and it's the Sabbath command. In the Sabbath command, you've got the seal of God. A seal had the name, the title, the territory. In this command, it says, "The Lord created heavens and earth." His name, His title, creator, His territory, heaven and earth. It's a unique command that the devil especially hates. And it's a sign.
Jëan: Just to add to that sign, not only is it a sign that it is the Lord that sanctifies us as we're reading Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 12, in Ezekiel 20:20 it tells us that not only is the Sabbath a sign that the Lord sanctifies us, but it's also a sign that God created us. So, the Sabbath serves as a sign not only that we are God's, but it also reminds us that God made us. We are made in His image. The true joy and happiness that a person can have is when we recognize that God is our creator and we worship Him as such. The big issue in the last days if you read the book of Revelation revolves around worship. Who do we worship? Do we worship the beast power of the last days, or do we worship the creator? Depending upon who we worship, well, that depends whether we get the seal of God or the mark of the beast. So, worship is an important thing, and the Sabbath is connected to worship.
Doug: Yeah, amen. So, it's a sign of him creating us or recreating us and sanctifying. All of us need to be recreated, that's the new heart. Old things are passed away, all things are made new. And it's a sign that He can sanctify us. He takes what is once sinful and He makes us holy. Every Sabbath, we remember that. Would we have the same problems we have in our culture today with people believing that we've all evolved with no purpose if we had been keeping the Sabbath? I think the neglect of the Sabbath has made people forget that He's the creator. Says, "Keep the Sabbath, for in six days the Lord created." He wants us to remember that. All right, we're going to go on now with the day--Sabbath is a day of equality. And it starts out here, Pastor Ross, I don't know if you want to read Deuteronomy 5, verse 12 and 15 and—
Jëan: Yes, Deuteronomy chapter 5, beginning in verse 12, it says, "Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord God commanded you. Six days you should labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you should do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord Your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord Your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."
Doug: Now, some read the Sabbath commandment in Deuteronomy 5 and they say, "See, this proves the Sabbath was only for the Jews." He said, "See, I'm commanding you to keep it because you were a slave." Do you notice there's a difference between the rendering of the Sabbath commandment in Deuteronomy from what you find in Exodus? In Deuteronomy, Moses is--the whole book of Deuteronomy is Moses's closing sermon before he dies to the people of Israel. It's sort of his last appeal. He's paraphrasing and expounding on their experience. So, here he stops and he expounds on the Sabbath. He's not adding to it, he's telling them why it's especially important for them to let their servants rest. He said, "Don't forget you were a slave. You need to let your servants rest." And not only was it a day for equality for the servants, he said, "Your children shall rest." You know, one thing before I leave the idea of the servants, any of you been to Israel? Some of you have. Did you notice that some of the elevators are called Shabbat elevators? In some of the hotels and places you stay, they got what they call an elevator and then they got a Shabbat elevator. You know why? Because for the Orthodox Jews, it was so important to them, they don't want to even push a button. They've got automated lights on the Sabbath. If they go into an elevator and it's not a Sabbath elevator, they will stand there and wait for a Gentile to come in and push a floor. Sabbath elevators, as soon as you go in, it stops on every floor. How many of you know what I'm saying is true? When I first heard that, I thought, "You're kidding me." So they thought, "Push the button, that's work." That to me was—
Jëan: But the irony in that, Pastor Doug, is you could wait for a Gentile to come and press the button, you'd be okay, but you're not supposed to press the button. Whereas the Sabbath commandment says not only are you to rest on the Sabbath, but your servants are to rest and even the stranger that is within your gates. So, that would be the Gentiles. So, in their manmade traditions, even today they still to some degree set aside the commandments given by God.
Doug: Yeah, and if your servant is supposed to rest, with that in mind, what does that say about Sabbath-keepers that decide, "We're not going to prepare our food in advance, we're just going to all go out to dinner"? Aren't you kind of like hiring someone to cook for you and serve you? Because you didn't for whatever reason want to make preparations in advance. So, I'd have a problem with that. But it's not only servants that are protected in this commandment, what else? Your animals. It says that your ox and your donkey, and now is an ox a clean animal? Yes, is a donkey a clean animal? So, it's basically saying male, female, son, daughter, male servant, female servant, animals, clean animals, unclean animal, any beast of burden. Now, keep in mind back in Bible times, some of those animals, they were--they were burdened down with loads, they were pulling plows. And God said they even must rest. Now, there's some exceptions. You know, in the early days of our church, if you wanted to get to church, you had to either walk 20 miles or you had to hook up the buggy to the horse and ride. And so, you know, there--sometimes there was the practicality of it. But as far as possible, the regular beasts of burden were being told that they should rest on the Sabbath day. And someone's going to read a verse for us about that. Proverbs 12:10, and just reminds us that--and it's not only the--your son and your daughter and your servants and your animals. It says, "And the stranger within your gates." Now, within your gates means within your home, within your whatever your dominion is, they should be resting and keeping it. But go ahead, read Proverbs for us please. female: Proverbs 12:10, "A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Doug: I'll tell you a quick story. Years ago, a pastor was riding through Scotland, this is in the 1800s, and he was doing some work in the area for a few months. And he noticed that every Sunday, he saw all these donkeys in this field, but they were disappearing the rest of the week, he never saw them. But Sunday, they were in the field. And he finally stopped when he saw a man was there feeding the donkey, he says, "I'm just curious," says, "These donkeys are here every Sunday, but they're gone the rest of the week. What's with that?" He said, "Well, these donkeys work down in the coal mines, and of course Sunday we don't work, but we have to bring them up. Because," he says, "if they're in the dark of the mine all week long, they go blind from never using their eyes." Said, "They need to come up in the light at least once a week or they go blind." I think it's important that we also are exposed to the light every Sabbath day. And so it's a sign--when he says, "It's a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever," is it just the sign for the children of Israel? Or does the Bible say, "If you are Christ's," what's the rest of that? "Then you are Abraham's seed. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly." And so, every Christian is grafted into these promises where it's a sign between God and spiritual Israel as well as literal Israel forever.
Jëan: I'd also like to mention there where it says, "And rest and be refreshed." We need spiritually to be refreshed once a week. We do it every day when we have our own worships, but there's something special, there's a double portion of a blessing that we find on the Sabbath spiritually speaking, where we can be refreshed. You know, Pastor Doug, I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't for the Sabbath. It seems like our whole lives revolve around getting ready for the Sabbath, and then we look forward to the Sabbath during the busyness of the week. And not to have the Sabbath would just be a, you know, when do you rest? When do you take a break? When do you walk away from all of the busyness that seems to crowd you all week long and just spend time meditating with God and worshipping? It's so important for every Christian to have that special time.
Doug: You know, it's almost like reading "Moby Dick" where you don't have chapters frequently enough. You know what I'm talking about? We need chapters where you say, "I'm going to pause here." And every week, God says, "Okay, closing the chapter of that week. You can rest before you delve into another chapter." Some of you I can hear laughing, you read "Moby Dick." All right, why don't you read, now we're going to go into days of healing. And there is some disputes about this, but the Sabbath is a time for healing. You want to read Matthew, Pastor Ross?
Jëan: Yes, so in Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse 9, we have an incident that occurred on the Sabbath with Jesus. It says starting verse 9, "Now, when He had departed from there, He went to their synagogue, and behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, 'What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out and it was restored as whole as the other."
Doug: Now, some people say, "Well, you know, Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and so He said, 'As long as you're doing good, that's okay. You can do whatever you think is good.'" Now, some people have taken the ox in the ditch and they've abused that principle. Jesus is saying if a person is physically sick and you can heal them, obviously you should heal them. I know a good Sabbath-keeping dentist, and every now and then he'll get a call from someone who wakes up in excruciating pain with a toothache, and they say, "Oh, can you help me?" He says, "Absolutely." He won't charge them, but he'll open up his dentist lab, he'll bring them in, and try and take care of whatever the immediate pain is. He might have to say, "Look, this will help you relieve the pain until I can have my crew here and we can, you know, do a procedure, operate on another day." But he sees that these people are suffering, and of course Jesus would relieve their suffering if He had it in His power. That's different than saying, "You know, we're going to go out on Sabbath and do service for our neighbors. We're going to rake their leaves." Is that the ox in the ditch? I hear sometimes that people say, "Well, we're going to take the kids out doing community service on Sabbath 'cause it's better to do good. So, we're going to wash our neighbor's windows." I think that's abusing what the principle is, you know what I'm saying? And so, I think we need to just know Jesus. Did Jesus heal people on the Sabbath? Was He ever in the carpenter shop on the Sabbath? But isn't making chairs good? See, people couldn't abuse that word "good" 'cause everything's good. That's not what Christ is talking about. We have another example of healing, now did Jesus heal people on Sabbath? Was that to say the Sabbath should not be kept, or were the disputes about how the Sabbath should be kept? Jesus had a lot of disputes about how the Sabbath should be kept. Never did He say it should no longer be kept. That's a very important point. You're going to find where people are arguing, "Well, Jesus had to--He had to fight of all the legalistic Pharisees who were trying to make people keep the Sabbath" No, He was fighting off the legalism of keeping it improperly or for the wrong reasons. We have another one, Pastor Ross, in Luke.
Jëan: Luke chapter 13, verse 10, we have another Sabbath occurrence with Christ that says, "Now He was teaching in one of the Synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years. And she was bent over and could in no wise raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, 'Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.' And He laid his hand upon her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. And he said to the crowd, 'There are six days on which a man ought to work, therefore come and be healed on them, and do not on the Sabbath day.' Then the Lord then answered him and said, 'Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham who Satan has bound,'" think of it, "for 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
Doug: Yeah, Sabbath day is a day of blessings. And you know, what a great day for a person to be set free is what Jesus is saying. And so, again you could just look--I mean, it's hard for me to imagine the ruler of the synagogue, how coldhearted he could be. This woman is all bent over, she's hunched over, maybe severe osteoporosis, I don't know what it was. And in the presence of them all, Jesus does a mighty miracle. They all knew her, she had had this problem 18 years, she went to the same synagogue. And they saw her hobble in, looking at the ground 'cause she couldn't stand up, Jesus touches her, and a miracle happens. And instead of everybody just exploding in joy, the ruler of the synagogue is wringing his hands and going, "This is the Sabbath. You shouldn't do this." If I see a miracle like that, I'd just say, "Praise God." God does miracles, He did it, and so you got to take it up with the Lord. But yeah, you know, the devil exposes. And then we have what--now, there's a lot of examples, we only have time for three. We have another one in John 9, you want to read that?
Jëan: Yes, another Sabbath miracle that Jesus performed, it says, John chapter 9, beginning verse 14 if you're following in your Bibles, "Now it was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight, and he said to them, 'He put clay on my eyes, and I washed and I see.' Therefore, some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath.'"
Doug: Another example of the same misbalanced legalism, where--and you know, finally they end up kicking this man who's got his eyes open. He's blind from birth, had never seen before, he's healed, he can see, and the religious leaders even bring in his parents, they said, "This is too--we can't believe, this is too much. Is this actually your son?" "This is our son." "He was born blind?" "He was born blind." "Well, how does he see?" They said, "Well, don't ask us, ask him." 'Cause they were afraid to get kicked out of the synagogue, excommunicated. And the young man's got very good perception, he said, "This is amazing to me that you're asking who this man is from. God hears the prayers of the righteous through the Lord. Through the power of God, He has opened my eyes. It's never been heard of since the history of man, someone born blind should have their sight restored." And he finally says, "Look, how He did it, I can't tell you everything about it. All I know is I was blind and now I see." And they got upset at him and they ended up kicking him out of the synagogue.
Jëan: I like what he says, Pastor Doug, they ask him again, "Now tell us, how did this happen?" And he says, "Well, I told you already. Do you want me to tell you again so you can be disciples?" Oh, they got very upset.
Doug: Yeah, that's when they kicked him out of the synagogue.
Jëan: You know, it's interesting to note that the Bible, at least in the gospels, we have seven occurrences of Sabbath miracles that Jesus performed. It's always nice when these things come in sevens, the perfect number. But the Bible records for us seven Sabbath miracles. We've looked at a few of them, but there's some other very significant Sabbath miracles. It's an interesting study sometime to look up all of the miracles Jesus performed on the Sabbath.
Doug: And this is one of the reasons Christ made that statement that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. God did not create the Sabbath day and then create man to observe it. God created man, and then created the Sabbath day for it to be a blessing for man. And so, they had turned the Sabbath day into a burden, where it's supposed to be a blessing. And He says, "You've got the whole point of it backwards." Last section, we'll probably just have a couple minutes to get some of this, Sabbath rest even for the land. And maybe you want to read Leviticus 25:1 to 7 there for us.
Jëan: Leviticus chapter 25, beginning in verse 1, it says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "When you come into the land that I will give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you should sow your field, six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit. But the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own according to the harvest you may not reap, nor gather the grapes of your unintended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you, for you and for your male servants, female servants, for your hired men, for the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and for the beast that are in the land. All its produce shall be their food."'"
Doug: Now, you know, there's no record that I can think of, you might correct me, where it shows them actually observing this. Most of the time, they neglected it. They would go out and harvest. They would were afraid God was saying, "I want you to live by faith that year. Whatever grows volunteer, you can eat. Don't go harvest it, but it's for everybody, the man, your servants, your animals. But you're going to rest that year from the farming. Just trust Me." And most years, they neglected that commandment. The reason you know that is you look in 2 Chronicles and it says in verse 19, I'll start with 2 Chronicles chapter 36, verse 19, "Then they burned the house of God, they broke down the wall of Jerusalem, they burned all its palaces with fire, they destroyed all its precious possessions. And those who escaped from the sortie carried away to Babylon, where they were to be servants to him and his sons until the rule of the king of Persia to fulfill the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land has enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she laid desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years." So, God was saying, "Look, you would not let the land keep Sabbath. It's going to have an enforced Sabbath for 70 years." Something else I think is interesting here is while the land was desolate, it was keeping Sabbath. What's the condition of the world when Jesus comes back for the 1,000 years? It's desolate, and so, the earth is keeping a 1,000 year, a millennial Sabbath while we are living and reigning with Christ in heaven. Now, they also had that same law for servants as well, Pastor Ross, in Exodus 21.
Jëan: Exodus chapter 21, beginning in verse 1, it says, "Now these are the judgments which shall set before them. You shall buy--if you shall buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing."
Doug: Yeah, and so, you know, all through the Bible we see these patterns of six you work, one you rest. They not only have a Sabbath every seventh year, but after seven sevens, they have a special Sabbath year that was called the year of what? Jubilee, and so, their whole economy was based upon believing that God would supply. And that was a time, the Jubilee, when they would not only release slaves, they would forgive debts. And all of these I think are pointing to the ultimate Sabbath, when Jesus comes. Now, we don't know the date of Christ's coming, but we do know when the time is near, and you can see a pattern in the Bible where a day with the Lord is like 1,000 years and 1,000 years like a day. And for 6,000 years from the time of Adam, you add up the ages, it's approximately 6,000 years, 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham, the age of the patriarchs, 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ was the age of Israel, the Jews, 2,000 years from Christ to our present day is the age of the church or spiritual Israel. Then 1,000 years like a Sabbath we live and reign with the Lord. We're living right about Friday afternoon right now. But do you notice the pattern? Six days you would--six years you would farm your land, the seventh you'd let it rest. For 6,000 years, Jesus sowed the seed of the gospel. How is he pictured coming in Revelation? To harvest. He's got a sickle. And at the--after six years, you'd let your servant go free. When Jesus comes, those who've been captive to the devil, they get their glorified bodies, there's a liberation, so all these things almost find their fulfillment in a picture of the Second Coming.
Jëan: Absolutely, we'd like to remind our friends, those who are watching as we near the end of our time, about our free offer for today. It's a magazine talking about the Sabbath, it's called "The Rest of Your Life," just one of our most useful resources that Amazing Facts has put together on the subject of the Sabbath. If you'd like to receive this free offer, the number to call is... And you can ask for offer number 813. Or you could text the following code, text the code SH086 to the number 40544, and you'll be able to receive a free download of this great magazine called "The Rest of Your Life," all about the Sabbath.
Doug: Amen, thank you very much. God willing, friends, we'll study His Word together again next week, and God bless you.
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♪♪♪ [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language]
Doug: We are all part of the family of God. This is what you've heard each of our friends just say. Hi, we're here in Papua New Guinea, where the people speak over 800 different languages. In fact, this is the most language diverse place in the entire world. The reason for that is because of the topography of this country with the tall mountains, steep ravines, deep gorges, and rushing rivers. Over the millennia as the country was settled, the different people and tribes were isolated by the terrain. So, they evolved their own very distinct languages. When people cannot communicate, sometimes it causes misunderstandings. So, the people in New Guinea have overcome that by speaking a common pigeon English.
[speaking foreign language]
Doug: It's a very beautiful dialect that combines some German, some English words, and some of the tribal words.
[speaking foreign language]
Doug: You can read in the Bible in Genesis chapter 11 there was once a time when all the world spoke one language, but then men began to rebel against God. They started to build a tower as a monument to manmade salvation and manmade worship. It's better known as the Tower of Babel. Matter of fact, after God confused the languages, people started babbling, which is where we get the word. For thousands of years, this confusion of tongues caused all kinds of problems in communication, even wars were fought. But then in Acts chapter 2 in the upper room, God did something extraordinary to reverse the curse of the confusion of tongues. He poured out the Holy Spirit and Jesus did what he promised. He said, "You will speak with other tongues." Mark chapter 16, the disciples were supernaturally given the ability to communicate in many different tongues the good news of God.
Throughout the Bible, we learn that sin causes division. On the other hand, God is love, and so when we're filled with the Spirit of God, we naturally have love for one another. This is the big command in the Bible that we should love one another. Jesus's prayer for his people in John 17 is, "Father, that they may love each other and be one even as We are one." Paul says in the book of 1 Corinthians that we're many different parts, but we are one body. And so this is God's plan, that we might all be one and speak the language of heaven. So, if we have the Spirit of God, we will have the love of God because love is the language of God, and we will all be of one family.
All: God loves you!
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ My name is Diana Dixon, I'm a professional truck driver. And August the 4th, 2011, I stopped to help in an accident. male: Diana Dixon also tried to help. She parked her semi, jumped out, and headed toward the pickup. That's when she saw vehicles barreling toward her, so she reacted by jumping off 475 to a road below. Diana: Well, a pickup had clipped a semi, and I stopped to help. And I saw it in the mirror. So, I walked back, gentleman told me, he says, "Hey, you know, everything's okay. They called 911." And I looked over at the pickup and there was a black pickup over there and he was okay. And about that time, I don't know how far I walked, but I walked far enough and a semi hit him, and it imploded. I knew it was going to hit me. I had 30 seconds to decide, and I decided to jump.
Diana: Yeah, I jumped off the bridge, my back's broken.
male: Where are you at?
Diana: I don't know.
Fractured my pelvis in 24 places, 5 broken ribs, C5 neck fracture. I had a collapsed lung, I had a lacerated bladder, I was bleeding internally. I had no marks on the outside of me at all, but a scrape where my arm had scraped the concrete. From the chest down, I was on fire. I was a dispatcher for a year after the accident. And I went back, finished my degree, and I went to Pittsburg, threw a backpack over my back, walked like all the other students, I ran a marathon. And I'm--since then, I've been back to truck driving. There was a gentleman I worked with, and one day he was walking in, and he walked up to my desk and I was reading my Bible. And he says, "Are you a believer?" And I said, "Yes." And he gave me some Amazing Facts study guides. And it just--it was an eye-opening experience for me. I mean, I started reading them and I had a bunch of questions to ask him, so I got online and I got on the Amazing Facts webpage. And I just found information just that I'd never known.
I went back to work as a truck driver because that was my ministry. It was my ministry before the accident. And I was driving down the road and I just needed a connection, and I was flipping through, and somehow I ended up on YouTube. And next thing I know, Amazing Facts, one of those things would come up there, and I'd listen to it. I'm driving down the road, I got--I got 11 hours of driving. So, I listen to one, I listen to another one. And the more I listen to him, everything that I thought in my heart, I'd just click on one of his YouTubes and there he was giving me the answer. I walked in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the first time and I felt at home. I was baptized in the Seventh Day Adventist Church because I had found the truth that I just was searching for and I'd been praying about. Amazing Facts has been such an inspiration and important for my coming back into ministry that I want to be able to give back to anyone that I can. And Amazing Facts is the backbone of my ministry. My name is Diana Dixon. Thank you for changing my life. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪