The meaning of sabbath

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4.9-11

We understand from God’s word that there is a rest that is available in this age to the people of God. We realise that one could be of the people of God and yet not enter into this rest. There are many Christians that are ignorant of the rest of God and how the believer enters into it.

In context every Israelite that entered the promised land of Canaan did not enter into God’s rest. The prophecy that God communicated through David hundreds of years after Israel entered Canaan shows that Canaan itself was not that rest that God had in mind.

The ministry of Joshua took them into the Promised Land, but it could not deliver them into the rest of God. This is made available to man only in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The rest that we are to enter into is not that of man, but of God himself. When one enters into the rest of God he ceases from his labour just like God ceased from his own labour.

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Mark 2. 27-28

The concept of rest is that of Sabbath. We are told that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Even though many believed that there was absolutely no work on the sabbath, the truth is that the priests of the Old Testament were commanded to do temple work every Sabbath and in doing that work they were celebrating the true Sabbath. Jesus was greater than the temple in which the service was rendered and the priests that served in the temple.

The secret is that the Sabbath is not the celebration of a day or the observance of a day but the acknowledgement of the person of Christ. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and he is the fulfilment of all that the Sabbath points to. Man was not made for Sabbath nor is he to worship its observance. The Sabbath is a provision from God to bring rest to man. This, God has fulfilled lavishly in Christ.

We know what the rest that we are to enter into is like because we are told that it is exactly like the rest by which God ceased from his own labours in Genesis.

Why did God rest?

We are told that it is because God had ceased from all his works.

This is another way of saying that God had carried out his creative acts in a complete way. It was so complete that nothing was required to be done in addition to that which he had already done.

We usually link rest with tiredness, but we have to realise that unlike his creation God did not rest because he was tired. The rest God has is not because of tiredness but that he ceased from his labours. His labours refer to his act of creation. He rested because he had created.

How does God create?

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:11 -12

Watch closely the nature or the type of labour that God ceased from.

God creates with words. His words are exact and deliberate. We are given insight into how he created herbs. God did not say "Let there be herbs". God said "Let there be herb yielding seed after his kind". God created herbs to carry seed within itself so that the seed become the next herb. This is simple but profound.

This is significant. God does not keep creating herbs. Through his words God puts seeds in fruits, which are capable of reproducing the trees that become the herbs which carry the seed that keep reproducing in a continuous cycle. This is what God saw as good. He does not keep creating. He creates things complete.

God creates in such a way as to give the creation the power to continue the process that started in genesis 1.

This would mean that God has created herbs only once. You see, God doesn’t scratch his head wondering how the next herb will sprout. He has created the first herb complete. He has created it so complete that his direct intervention is not required for maintenance of his creation.

This is the type of creation that warranted God resting. The first Sabbath was therefore a bold testimony of God’s completeness in that which he had spoken into existence. This is what we are called to enter into. We are to enter into rest. Rest is the consciousness that what God has done is so complete that God doesnt need to do anything again in regards to what he has done.

By the time Adam was created every tree needed for his food already existed. There was a sun to drive evaporation and cooling of water. This was before Adam opened his eyes. Firstly then we see the provision and then we see man’s need for it. The lesson of the first Sabbath therefore is that the solution is much older than the challenge that we face. This is rest as God rests.

So you need something from God? The truth is that God has ceased from his labours. This would mean that it is not so much of God rushing back to the drawing board to conjure up an answer, it is a thing of knowing that the way God operates is to create his things in complete ways. That which is needed is already provided and what is needed is resting in what God has done.

...to be continued.

Emmanuel

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Acts 17:27

5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Psalm 139: 5 – 8

Paul states a bible fact in Acts 17 – God is not far from us but Man needs to perceive him. Pause and think about that – God is not far from you!

David in psalm 139 admits the profound fact that God was on every side of him. He also admits that the hand of the Lord was upon him in blessing. The knowledge of this revolutionised his thinking. He did not see God as an enemy who was standing against him, but as a friend who had taken it upon himself to encompass David with his very presence.

The knowledge that David spoke about was two fold. Firstly it was a fresh knowledge of himself. He had come to know himself in the light of a man continually encompassed with God's presence and glory. Everything around him contradicted this truth. This was a knowledge higher than his experience but given to him through the revelation of God. Secondarily it was a knowledge of the Lord not as an adversary or foe but as a friend, consort and companion. This type of knowledge should characterise the believer.

David admits a mighty fact – The presence of God is everywhere the same. This is true of heaven as well as of hell itself. David had not ascended to heaven, yet he knew that the presence of God was a reality there. The only way he'd have come to know this was by the revelation of God in his word. This is easy to admit. What the religious man fails to see is that David admits that even in hell the presence of God is a reality. In simple terms there is no such thing as the absence of God anywhere in the universe for he is everywhere and he is everywhere the same. He is not more present in heaven than he is in hell.

This is wonderful knowledge. When folks are unconscious of this bible fact, they speak of “inviting” God into where they are. This is superstitious. Rather than try to invite him though, we can humbly rest in the knowledge that he is already present. There is no place where God is not. The universe is his.

I love the humility of David. He knew a fact that many of us shy away from – We are the ones that try to run away from his presence and not he from ours. He said “Where shall I run from your presence ..”. A religious mind will not admit this. The religious mind will accuse God of deserting him, when in reality God does not desert man but it is men that desert God.

If you have read this far, you know deep within if this is a reality you live in or some theological truth that you profess. The religious mind will affirm the omnipresence of God and in the same breath say that “God left me”. In reality we are the ones that do the leaving. You must learn to affirm to yourself the abiding presence of God.

In the bible, the picture given of heaven is that of a place where God is acknowledged. You cannot escape this fact as you read through the revelation of John. In hell there is gnashing of teeth. It is easy to think God is absent from hell and present only in heaven, but the truth is that God is present but his presence does not produce freedom until it is acknowledged and embraced in one's consciousness. Hell is the federal headquarters of complaints, heaven is the practice of praise. In reality then, heaven is the way it is because God is continually praised there.

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; Acts 17:22, 28a

It is noteworthy that the people of Athens disagreed strongly with Paul. They would have maintained that they were religious and they were, but Paul would have called it by the proper name – idolatry. Since they were wholly given to idolatry he resorted to freeing their minds by dismantling their religious reasonings with the revelation of God. The people of Athens did not deny the existence of God. The trouble was that he was unknown to them. When men desire God but mistake zeal for knowledge superstition is born inevitably. Their worship betrayed their ignorance. All religious men are superstitious men.

The superstitious bias is manifested differently in different situations, but nevertheless it is not rooted in truth. There is only one way to rid oneself of superstition and that is by receiving and walking in the knowledge of God. When Paul went to the top of Mars hill he went into the presence of intense superstition. These were learned men but Paul admits that their knowledge is sustained by superstition. What Paul said was aimed at dealing out a death blow to superstition.

The understanding of the resurrection of Jesus is the answer to superstitious thinking.

A religious mind today would not go up such a hill for it supposes that demons and the devil actually own portions of the earth. Paul admitted no such thing for in agreement with all bible people he knew that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Until you learn to live in the light of the truth of God's presence you will find yourself walking gingerly and fearfully in the presence of such spiritual nonsense. Paul diagnosed that the problem was the superstitions of men. It wasn't that the demons or the deities that the people worshipped were powerful.

What we know as demonic power is really the power of superstition. The answer to superstition is the deliverance that comes from the proclamation and affirmation of truth especially the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Only the revelation of God can separate men from superstition. You can use the name of Jesus to command demons to leave, but you cannot command superstition to go away. The demons will flee at the use of the name of Jesus, but will return because they find a resting place in the superstitions of men. Superstitions are more stubborn than demons.

The most stubborn superstition is religious in nature. It is possible to worship out of a superstitious mind. It has all the trappings of worship but is very far from the real thing for it is based on ignorance of the true knowledge of God – this knowledge is the meaning and import of the resurrection of Jesus. When one is unaware of this he is superstitious in all things.

15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 cor 3:15 – 17

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The question then is “are there some places where the spirit of the Lord is not? The truth is that the Spirit of the Lord is everywhere. What remains for man is the knowledge of this. When this is not known, ignorance veils the heart.

When my heart is not properly adjusted to Christ Jesus I am deluded into thinking that he is not present. When this happens, the religious mind, which is also a veiled mind, believes that the Lord is absent or that he Lord has left. The Lord does not come and go, it is our hearts that get veiled by ignorance or unveiled by focusing on the Lord. If I am word-conscious, the word focuses my heart on the Lord until the awareness of God envelops me.

Paul uses the term "Moses" prior to verse 14 to refer to the Old Testament prophet Moses but from verse 14 onwards it refers not to the man, but to the Old Testament. The term "Moses" was a portable way or a shorthand for the Old Testament. The religious mind reads "Moses" without a proper understanding of the resurrection of Christ Jesus and he will be able to “prove” from "Moses" his superstitions. This is because his heart is veiled by superstitious reasoning devoid of a resurrection consciousness. The trouble is not with "Moses" but with the veiled heart. The heart then is either turned towards or away from the Lord. When the heart is turned towards the Lord an unveiling takes place and man is able to acknowledge the presence of God.

The presence of God therefore is an unveiled heart.

A veiled heart cannot walk in the truth of God even though it is deeply religious. This is because man is designed such that whatever you are conscious of will inevitably dominate your awareness, get larger in your world and become more real to you. It seems so real that God is not present when in reality he is present. Religion robs me of fellowship with God when he is so near. God is everywhere. When I feel like he is absent I have proof that my heart is not horizoned by Christ Jesus and so it is veiled. I do not cry for him to come, I cry for my heart to ascend into a fresh comprehension of the living God.

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Ephesians 3: 18,19

The apostle Paul does not tell us what it is that we are to comprehend the breadth, length, depth and height of. In context I will say that it is the subject matter of the mystery that was hidden in God which God revealed through Paul for the edification of the church. Whatever it is, he is not asking that God do something again, but that the saints press into a greater comprehension in all dimensions of being. The fulness of God is Christ Jesus. When he says that we should be filled with the fulness of God he is saying we should be filled with a Christ-consciousness. This is the atmosphere of God.

The christian is not one whose sole purpose is to go to heaven, but one who is filled with the very fulness of God. According to scriptures, the key to living in this fulness of God is an awareness of God's love. Love opens you up to all that God is in you. When I feel a scarcity of his presence it is really symptomatic of a low estimation of love – the love of God. This love is not what you feel for others even though that is beautiful, nor is it what you feel towards God, but what God's heart is towards you. It is this love that holds your heart captive and delivers it into a new conception of God in all fulness.

... to be continued

The Foundation of Apostles & Prophets

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

I have met many Christians who insist that there are no more apostles and prophets, and that all that we have today are pastors and evangelists and nothing more. According to Ephesians 4 though, the intention of God is to have the 5 offices of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers for the perfection of the saints … till we all come unto the stature of the fullness of Christ. There is a lofty ideal expressed there and you have to realise that God is not in the habit of using five to do what two are able to do.

According to Jesus the full operation and working together of the five offices mentioned above is required to bring about the expressed purpose of perfecting the saints. Any casual observer can tell you that we have not attained to any of those ideals as yet, and it is obvious that if those five offices working together are required in the economy of God, then it cannot be a job that only two of the five can accomplish. Clearly then we still have all of those offices in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today.

I expect that you are scripturally smart enough to realise that not all that go by the catchphrases apostolic, prophetic or apostolic-prophetic are of any genuine spiritual significance. Some of it is just unbiblical reasoning garbed in beautiful phraseology. It seems that there is a concerted effort to misuse and abuse the prophet’s and apostle’s ministry today and so there is a dire need to be scripturally sound in the things of the Spirit.

Let us receive of the ministry of true apostles and prophets. We have to be open to all that is available in God. That’s the key - “all that is available in God”. There are things we are seeing in our day that are definitely not from God. We’d cover that some other day.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 cor 3.11

According to Paul if any man succeeds at laying any other foundation, he has not really succeeded but failed in the grand scheme of things. He narrows it down to just one foundation and rules out the possibility of any other where the church is concerned.

According to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, there are certain absolutes where the church is concerned. One such absolute is that there is only one foundation that can be laid. The foundation is Jesus Christ. It stands to reason then that any other foundation is purely delusional.

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Eph 2.20

So, what does he mean when he says “the foundation of apostles and prophets” in the verse above?

In Eph 2.19 Paul borrows a metaphor to show that the saints are the household of God. Therefore he brings in the idea of a cornerstone and foundation.

When trouble broke out in Acts 6, Peter gives us a clue about what he gave the greatest priority to as an Apostle. He said - we would give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Prayer was a reference to intimacy with God, while the ministry of the word was the revelation that they communicated as a result of that fellowship.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Act 2.42

The idea is that the disciples continued in the Apostles' doctrine. This confirms that they continued in the Apostle’s ministry of the word. This is likely not a written document as this was the early stage, but nevertheless the Apostles' ministry of the word was the key.

The idea is that the Apostles supplied the doctrine that became written down as scripture of the New Testament. This then forms the basis for testing any other revelation that floats around. The Apostles were communicating the revelation of the resurrection of Christ. The Apostle Paul communicated the largest portion of this.

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 1 cor 1:23

We can pinpoint what the Apostle Paul preached. He said, "we preach Christ and him crucified". This wasn’t only him for if that was the case he would have said " I preach Christ", rather he said 'we' – "we preach Christ". In other words they spoke about Christ from the basis of the redemption that he has provided.

We can see then, that the 'foundation of the apostles' is not a reference to the apostle as a person or as a ministry gift, but to the object of their testimony, which is Christ. The foundation that the apostle provides is a revelation of who Christ is.

Apostolic testimony then is an amplification of the person of Christ with tangible proof. The core of apostolic testimony is not religious weirdness or some unscriptural idea formulated out of thin air, which is not rooted in the revelation of Christ. We have some insight into what is meant by "the foundation of the Apostles".

Sometimes you will hear the expression – 'the law and the prophets' used together and at other times just the law or the prophets.

King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Acts 26:27

This is a reference to Paul’s mighty defence before the noble king Agrippa. There is that phrase “the prophets”. When he asked if the king believed the prophets he was in effect asking if Agrippa believed the records of the Old Testament.

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Lk 24:25,27

I want you to watch that term “the prophets”. Here we see that from the way that Jesus used it, it was a reference to the document we know as the Old Testament. He was in effect saying that the guys have refused to believe the word of the Old Testament.

In effect they were sad, not because of the events surrounding the death of Jesus, but their refusal to believe what the word had already said about it.

You notice that this is the first incidence on record that Jesus taught his disciples from scripture about his death and resurrection. From the way that Jesus used the prophets then we see that they are the first records of the death and resurrection of Christ. The key thought in all that the prophets said is really Christ.

In referring to Moses and the Prophets we are told that he expounded from all the scriptures things concerning himself. Therefore “the prophets” refer to all the scriptures of the Old Testament starting from the writings of Moses who himself was a prophet.

According to Jesus the testimony of 'the prophets' was about himself. They bore testimony to the Lord Jesus. That in itself is another lesson. Some go to the Old Testaments hoping to find laws, statues and ordinances – and they will. The undergirding message though is not about any of those things but about Jesus the True Man.

We can safely say that the phrase “foundation of the apostles and prophets” is a concise way of speaking. It summarizes the testimony that the Old Testament prophets prophesied about Jesus from afar and the testimony that the Lord, by his Spirit, gave to his Apostles after his resurrection. This two-fold testimony presents to us Christ as the promise and as the fulfilment. In other words the completeness that Christ represents.

You realise that the foundation holds the structure above it. If the foundation is based on delusions so is the whole structure on top of it. It is very important then that we understand the testimony of Paul – Christ is the foundation and he is already laid. Phrased a little differently the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, the foundation that they provide, centres on the revelation of who Christ is.

The heart of the testimony is that the foundation is already laid by the revelation contained within God’s word.

There are a growing number of people, Christians, spirit-filled Christians, who subscribe to the thought that the apostles and prophets in our midst today form the foundation of the church!

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 1 cor 3:10

Apostles do lay foundations, even as we see to be true in the verse above. However the apostles or prophets are not the foundation or the base on which everything or anything rests in the church – Christ is. When true Apostles function, they lay a foundation – Christ is that foundation. You realise that according to scripture, Apostles and Prophets are not the foundation of any church – well, at least not the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be apostolic and prophetic again. I hope you understand that that means a return to the ministry of the word as a revelation of Christ with power and great glory!