Dear Family,
Today is Monday, May 27, 2024. It is Day 30 and Day 2 of Week 5 in our Count to Pentecost.
God told Moses He intended to test (or prove) Israel to determine whether they would walk in God‛s law or not, by commanding them to gather on the sixth day of each week, twice as much “bread from heaven” as they were allowed to gather on the first five days of each week.
Exodus 16:4 (B) that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no.
It was a simple and direct commandment God gave them. And, the explanation of exactly what, how, and when “to gather” versus “not to gather” was reinforced each week by divine intervention. Supernaturally, the bread would spoil if kept overnight on any of the week days except for the sixth, but be completely fresh when it was kept overnight on the sixth day for the seventh day‛s food. Obviously, the question is, if Israel wasn‛t going to keep this command, how could God know they would obey His other commands?
During creation week, according to the first chapters of Genesis, the Sabbath was the first full day Adam and Eve lived. The Genesis account shows us that God had created them and placed them in the Garden in Eden during the daylight portion of the sixth day. God then rested and made the seventh day HOLY!
Genesis 2:1-3 (1) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (2) And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all his work which He had made. (3) And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all His work which God created and made.
In Exodus 16:23, we find the first reference to the seventh day being called the Sabbath in the King James Version of the Bible. This chapter also ties in “rest” with the seventh day Sabbath and refers to the rest as “the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD.”
Exodus 16:23 And He said unto them; This is that which the LORD hath said; Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
Later, God incorporated His seventh day command into the Covenant He made with ancient Israel at Sinai. Prior to the Old Covenant, the seventh day rest (Sabbath) was a test commandment. It has continued to be so through the millennia.
Obviously, the Sabbath is part of the 10 Commandments and the Old Covenant. However, its being “holy unto the LORD” continues to be crucial to all of God‛s people for today and for as long as there is man, because the Sabbath was made for man. And, we know that everything God does, He does with purpose. Let us learn from ancient Israel regarding God‛s Sabbath test for His people.
Ben Faulkner, Pastor
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