Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There is a view of the Sabbath which lifts it far above the legalistic idea in which it has been viewed for so long. This view is that the Sabbath is closely related to the idea of justification by faith. It's the experience of realizing that you can't save yourself by any good work you can do, not even one percent; it's the realization of heart that your salvation is totally a gift of the Saviour of the world (John 4:42), "not of works, lest any one should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9).
Sabbath-keeping is almost infinitely beyond the idea of "Keep-the-Sabbath-or-God-will-zap you." There is not a trace of legalism in the Sabbath truth. It's John 3:16 repeated every day, reminding you that God so loved you that He already gave His only begotten Son, already redeemed you, already died your second death (Heb. 2:9), has already given you the gift of a verdict of acquittal "in Christ" (Rom. 5:15-18), reversing the condemnation that came upon you in Adam. The "rest" which the holy Sabbath brings you is rest from all your anxiety and fear.
True, the Sabbath comes only on the true seventh day (Ex. 20:8-11), but the Holy Spirit brings to you the remembrance of it every day throughout the week, for the word says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." In an objective sense, the Sabbath is already holy, even if you don't keep it holy; but in a subjective sense, your keeping the Sabbath holy expresses your faith in the objective truth that it is holy. Thus, your heart appreciation of the objective truth that God so loved you that He gave His only Son for you becomes for you the thrilling subjective experience of justification by faith.
At the commencement of the time of trouble, we read that God's people will proclaim the Sabbath "more fully." The time is near when God's people around the world, delivered from the last vestige of legalism, will "delight themselves in the Lord" by that kind of Sabbath-keeping.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 17, 1999.
Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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