The result of God’s work, especially in redemption, is Christ Himself. Christ is the Sabbath, and the Sabbath day typifies Christ. Therefore, when the Lord came in the flesh, He abolished the old Sabbath day (Matt. 12:1-12). God can only rest and be refreshed in Christ, with Christ, and with the redeemed ones. Without us to enjoy His rest, to be refreshed together with God, God cannot rest and be refreshed. The parable in Luke 15:11-32 indicates that without the prodigal son returning home, the father could not rest at his table to enjoy the feast. The father’s table in Luke 15 is the Sabbath to the father and to the son. But without the son, the father could not rest and enjoy the table. That table is Christ Himself, for upon that table was the slain, fattened calf (v. 23), signifying the rich Christ (Eph. 3:8) killed on the cross for the believers’ enjoyment. The Sabbath is Christ as the result of the divine work, especially in redemption. God enjoys resting and being refreshed in Christ and with Christ with all the redeemed ones. We, as the redeemed ones, as the spiritual Israel (Gal. 6:16), have to realize that everything has been accomplished by God. Nothing was done by us. We must now enter into God’s accomplishment and refresh ourselves with God.
If we attempt to do what God has accomplished, we will bring in death. Exodus 31:15 says, “Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.” The Sabbath is the result of God’s work. You must keep your hand off of this work. Stop yourself. Do not do anything; simply appreciate, adore, praise, and receive Christ as your Sabbath. Enjoy Christ and rest and refresh yourself with God, in Christ and with Christ, in His all-inclusive work. Then God will be pleased with you. Otherwise, you will bring in death. Death means that you are cut off from God as your portion and from the enjoyment of what God has done.
We have pointed out that the principle of the Sabbath is that God works first, then enjoys what He has done, whereas man first enjoys what God is and what God has accomplished, and then he is enabled to work. It is not that we work first and then have the enjoyment, but that we enjoy first and then work. This is the principle of grace—to receive salvation first and then work with and by this salvation.
Certain Christians, according to their natural concept, insist on keeping the Old Testament Sabbath, the seventh day. Actually, to keep the Sabbath according to the Old Testament is to observe it from Friday evening to Saturday evening and to abstain even from cooking meals (Exo. 35:2-3). To practice this in the New Testament times is foolish. The significance of keeping the seventh day is that one works first and then has the Sabbath. But we as believers in the New Testament time have the Lord’s Day first, and then we go to work. From a child I understood the Sunday of Christianity to be the seventh day. We called Monday the first day of the week, and Sunday was the seventh day, the “Sabbath.” Later, the Lord pointed out to me that Sunday is not the last day of the seven days. The Lord’s Day is the first day of the seven days. The week in the New Testament begins with the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day to us is not a day of pleasure or recreation, but a day of enjoying the Lord and serving Him. Sunday is a pagan name, a name related to idol worship. But to us the first day is the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10) because the Lord resurrected on this day (Matt. 28:1-6). It is not only the first day, but it is also the eighth day. The Lord passed through “one week” to accomplish redemption, and we receive what the Lord has accomplished on the eighth day, the day of resurrection, which is the first day of the week. This means that we began as Christians in the principle of resurrection.
According to the principle of salvation, we first come to enjoy the Lord and what He has accomplished. This is our Sabbath, our rest. At the conclusion of all the revelations concerning the tabernacle and the service, the Sabbath is mentioned. This is a sign to signify that God has taken care of all the work. There is nothing left for man to do. What man is obligated to do is to rest with God and enjoy what God has accomplished. Then after we have enjoyed, we work for God with what we have enjoyed. The grace enables us to serve the Lord.