Psalm 92
The people of Israel were once slaves to a king who made them work very hard building his walls, forts and towers; he set men to watch, and punish them to make them work harder; they had no day of rest.
But the Lord saved them from that cruel king, and led them to fields and cities of their own. Soon after they started that journey from. Egypt to Canaan, God told Moses to tell the people to rest from all work on the seventh day of the week, and to meet together to give thanks for being taken from the dreadful slavery. He said:
The seventh day began at sunset on what we call Friday, and ended at sunset on what we call Saturday; the word Sabbath means “rest;” They could not so much as kindle a fire or carry a bundle; the servants and visitors also were to rest; the food was to be prepared the day before. You see they could not work just a little, if they wished, or carry just a small bundle; they must keep this law exactly (Deut. 5:1414But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. (Deuteronomy 5:14); Numbers 15:32-3632And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. 36And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Numbers 15:32‑36)).
As long as the people of Israel obeyed God and remembered His care, they were happy to sing words like this psalm, which the note above says was for the Sabbath Day:
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy Name, O most High: To show forth Thy loving kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night.”
But after awhile many of the children of those people were careless of the goodness of God, and thought only of their fields, cities, and pleasures, and worked and bought and sold on the Sabbath days; nor did they meet to praise God; some even gave their praise to idols.
Because of that God let them be taken away from their land by strong armies (Jeremiah 17:2727But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. (Jeremiah 17:27)). After a time He let their children go back to their land, and for a while they obeyed His words, and kept the Sabbath Day. They should have learned how easily they turned to evil and believed His promise to send One to free them from their sins and give rest. But instead they did a strange way, they began to honor the Sabbath Day itself, more than the Lord or His Words, so when Jesus, the Son of God, came to live among, them, they would not believe or listen to Him, and wanted Him to be crucified (See John 5:16-1816And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16‑18)).
God had forgiven that nation’s sins many times, but when they had Jesus, His Son, killed, His covenant, or agreement, was broken entirely, and not repeated to those who believed in Jesus. They afterward met on the first day of the week in His memory, because that was the day He arose from the grave.
The Sabbath is called “a shadow.” You know the shadow is not the real object, but is like it, the real object meant by the Sabbath, was Christ. He was to be their source of rest, for they could not have rest while they sinned and had enemies (See Col, 2:16, 17). Jesus said,
“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt, 11:28.
ML 11/17/1940