The Sabbath in the Prophets #4

Introduction and Review of the Christian Sabbath Series

0:03 The following message was preached Sunday, July 26, 1998, to Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church of Sea-Tac, Washington. The speaker is Pastor Robert Martin. This message is the ninth in a series of 24 titled, The Christian Sabbath.

0:21 I can look out on your faces and probably predict who has air conditioning at home and who doesn't.

0:28 It doesn't appear that any of you have air conditioning at home. Well, I trust that the heat will not be insufferable tonight. I'm reminded, as I see our sister Billy, growing up in the South, we would not have regarded this as a hot day. This would have been a nice balmy spring day where we come from.

0:49 But I realize you Northwesterners, your blood's a little bit thin, a little hard to deal with this kind of weather. But I trust God will bless us, and I hope it won't be a distraction. But we do have serious business with the Word of God tonight. As we continue in the series.

1:04 This is a series that we've been considering for some weeks on the subject of the Christian Sabbath.

1:11 And seeing that there are a couple of folks here tonight that I've not seen before, perhaps it would be appropriate to take just a moment or two, to take a moment by way of review to see where we've come in this series. We're trying to understand the answer to a question, and the question is simply this. Is there a Christian Sabbath? That is, is it still God's Word?

1:36 Is it still God's Will? Is it still our duty to keep one day in seven as a day holy to the Lord, now under the new covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ?

1:49 And in order to answer that question, we've tried to comprehensively go back to the very beginning, indeed to the creation of the Sabbath as recorded in Genesis chapter 2. Our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking as the Lord of the Sabbath, said, The Sabbath was made for man. And so, in the Scriptures, we went looking for where God made the Sabbath. And we saw that, indeed, He made it at creation.

2:21 As His last creative act, on the seventh day, He sanctified the Sabbath day and He blessed it.

2:31 And then, in subsequent studies, we considered that, indeed, the Sabbath was known before Sinai, so that any statement that, the Sabbath was first instituted at Sinai as part of the Law of Moses, that there it begins and, therefore, is tied to the Mosaic Covenant and ends when the Mosaic Covenant ends. We saw that, having been established at creation, being recognized and observed prior to Sinai, that, indeed, it cannot be sustained, the premise that the Sabbath is associated solely with the Law of Moses. And then we came to the Book of the Law. And we examined the Fourth Commandment.

3:15 We examined other passages in the Book of the Law that described the use of the Sabbath day and God's will concerning the Sabbath day. And we saw that there were some things that, indeed, were limited, it appeared, to the time frame in which the Law of Moses was, indeed, enforced. Yet, we saw other things that appeared to transcend, that appeared to transcend the Mosaic Covenant, and, indeed, were rooted in the Law of Moses. And we saw that there were other things that appeared to transcend the Mosaic Covenant, and that were rooted back in the creation ordinance in God's establishment of the Sabbath at the beginning of the earth's history.

The Sabbath in the Prophets: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, Amos, and Isaiah 58

3:50 And then, last Lord's Day, we began to examine the doctrine of the Sabbath in the Old Testament prophets. We looked at how Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke to the men of their day concerning the Sabbath, concerning the Sabbath-breaking of their fathers, their own Sabbath-breaking, and how God's judgment had come upon the nation because of that. And we came this morning to take that thread up with a P.S.

4:18 and saw that, indeed, in Nehemiah's day, even after the captivity, the issue of the Sabbath was still a central issue, so much so that Nehemiah, as governor of the land, saw fit to enforce the keeping of the Sabbath and the guarding of the gates of the city, lest, indeed, the day be transformed into a day of commerce and bring again the judgment of God upon the people. And then we began to look at two passages of Scripture, and this was the major subject this morning. A contrast between two attitudes and two uses of the day. We looked first to Amos chapter 8,

5:00 and we saw there expressed in the attitude of the merchants that Amos denounced, we saw there an attitude which regarded the day as a burden, as a wearisome burden to be cast off, and to be done with as quickly as possible. And then coming to Isaiah chapter 58, we saw a contrasting attitude towards the day. A day in which the Sabbath day was not regarded as a burden, but a day in which it was regarded as a delight and honorable to the Lord. And we used the image, the illustration, of a gate opening onto two pathways.

5:43 On one side of that gate was a pathway leading in a direction, a pathway of unrighteousness. A pathway that the prophet describes in these words, doing your own ways, seeking your own pleasures, and speaking your own words. On the other side of the gate was a pathway of righteousness. A pathway described in the words of the prophet as delighting in the Sabbath, honoring it, not doing your own ways, not finding your own pleasures, not speaking your own words.

Exposition of Isaiah 58:13-14: The 'If' Clause and God's Certain Promises

6:19 Now this morning, we dealt with the first half of this text. And here I invite you to turn to Isaiah 58, verses 13 and 14. We dealt first with the contrasting attitudes. On the one hand, the attitude that regards the Sabbath as a burden.

6:40 On the other hand, the attitude that regards the Sabbath as a delight, or a joy, or a blessing.

6:50 Let's read again. Isaiah 58, verses 13 and 14.

6:56 Here the Lord says, If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor it, or perhaps you can translate, and honor Him,

7:19 not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Now there are in these verses two emphases in the contrast that is given, or in the proposition that is stated.

7:52 There is first of all the if clause. If you do this, then secondly, this will follow.

8:02 If, verse 13, you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, etc., then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and so on. There is an attitude described in verse 13, an attitude of delighting in the Lord. An attitude wholly opposite, dramatically opposite to the attitude that regards the day as a burden.

8:35 And if you take that posture, delighting in the day, and honoring the Lord in it, then the Lord speaks of blessings that are promised to those that delight in His Sabbath day. Verse 13, the attitude described. Verse 14, the blessing promised to those who delight in the Lord's Sabbath. Now, all that is described here in verse 14, all that is described as following the proper use of the day, is said to come from the mouth of the Lord.

9:14 The significance of the words that verse 14 ends with, the significance of the words, for the mouth of Jehovah, or the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, the meaning, the importance of those words, is found in the security, the certainty, the surety that these words give to God's people, that if they do what God bids them to do, then all that He promises in connection with their obedience will come to pass. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, then the Lord says you shall delight yourself in the Lord, etc.

9:57 These blessings will follow, and they will follow surely, they will follow certainly, because the mouth of the Lord hath said it. He hath spoken.

10:11 When the Lord commissioned Jeremiah to be His prophet, the Lord told him that He would speak what He commanded him. Jeremiah, you will speak what I command you. The Lord told him that in speaking what He commanded him, to that end, He would put His words in his mouth. He says to Jeremiah, I will put My words in your mouth.

10:40 You will speak all that I command you. And Jeremiah was to do this. He was to speak the Lord's words with the utmost confidence that what He said by the inspiration of God's Spirit would come to pass. He was to speak with authority.

10:59 He was to speak with confidence. He was to speak with the sense of the sureness of the things that He said, and the Lord said to him, to give him that kind of confidence, He said to him in the language of Jeremiah 1 and verse 12, I watch over My word to perform it. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken. Jeremiah, you need not fear that anything you will say to the people will fall to the ground unfulfilled.

11:28 I watch over My word to perform it. Now, when Isaiah here speaks the words of our text, when he says, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, then these things will follow. When Isaiah speaks these words, he likewise speaks with confidence that the Lord will do all that He said. The fact that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it is sufficient cause to regard the promise given as of infallible certainty.

12:04 Those who call the Sabbath a delight, those who regard the holy day of the Lord honorable and honor it, not doing their own ways, or finding their own pleasures, or speaking their own words, these will find the Lord completely true to His word in the things that He speaks on this occasion. There is a note of certainty. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Now, there are three things that are said in verse 14.

Blessing 1: Delight Yourself in the Lord

12:38 Three blessings, if you will, that are said in verse 14. Each flowing out of God's, or flowing by God's appointment from the fountain of obedience to the fourth commandment. If you turn away your foot from My Sabbath, from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, then, he says, these three things will flow from the fountain of obedience to My commandment in these things. Keep the Lord's Sabbath in the way I've appointed, the Lord tells them, and these three things will flow from the fountain of obedience to My commandment in these things.

13:11 These three things will follow certainly. They will follow infallibly. And first of all, in laying out these three things, our text says, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord.

13:27 If, he says, you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord.

13:38 Now, in this statement, here the benefit promised, directly, intimately connected to one of the chief ideas in the preceding verse.

13:50 There we read, if you call the Sabbath a delight. Well, verse 14 we read, then you will delight yourself in the Lord. If you call the Sabbath a delight, then you will delight yourself in the Lord. Now, what is the Lord saying?

14:11 What is He promising as the blessing that will flow out of obeying His law, out of keeping His day, out of honoring His Sabbath? What does He mean, you will delight yourself in the Lord? Well, to delight yourself in the Lord, or to have delight in the Lord, here seems to mean that you will enjoy His fellowship. You will enjoy in a special way His delightful fellowship.

14:39 In other words, to borrow another idea from verse 13, if you turn your foot away from doing, your own pleasure on the Lord's holy day, you will be rewarded with the pleasure of His delightful fellowship. The day is not a day of dreariness and drudgery. It is a day of pleasure.

15:02 It is a day of rejoicing. It is a day of delight. In calling it a delight, in regarding it as a day of delight, you're not playing a head game on yourself. You're not trying to take what is dreary and burdensome and wearying and somehow, find a grain or a seed of happiness and joy in it.

15:23 No, if you call it a delight, treat it as it ought to be treated, regard it as it ought to be regarded, honor it as you honor God, then you will find the delight of God's fellowship and communion in it. There will be a pleasure in it. There will be the pleasure of God's delightful, joyful fellowship. You'll find that keeping the day, the Lord promised, this is not a barren, it is not a pleasureless exercise.

15:54 Now, so often in hearing criticism of the Puritans who in church history since the time of the Apostles perhaps stand tallest in their appreciation for the Sabbath day, sometimes in hearing criticisms of the Puritans, very often you will hear the criticism leveled, oh, what a joyless, pleasureless bunch the Puritans were, especially in their doctrine of the Sabbath. Nothing could have been furthered. Nothing could have been furthered from the truth.

16:21 The Puritans did not pass the Sabbath day in a joyless, barren, a wearying way. They found in it, as we saw in that quote from Swinnock this morning, they spoke of it as the queen of days. They spoke of it as a haven of rest. They spoke of it as a day full of joy and full of delight.

16:44 Well, that was the Puritan doctrine of the Sabbath. On the day that God has chosen as His own, on the day that He chooses, is to meet with His people in a special way. If you keep His day in the way of His appointment, what He is saying is, I will come to you. I will commune with you.

17:06 I will bless you with the joy that My presence brings to My obedient people.

17:14 The psalmist says, in your presence is fullness of joy.

17:19 In keeping the Sabbath day, we have the promise of God's presence. We have the promise of delighting in the Lord, delighting in personal fellowship or communion with Him. If we keep the day in the way that He has commanded us to do, in the way that He has bidden us to do, if we use the day in the way that He created the day to be used, He will come. He will commune with us.

17:43 He will bless us with that joy that His presence brings to His obedient people.

17:49 And the truth of the matter is, and I invite you to make the experiment sincerely to make the experiment, that no one has, that no one has ever properly kept the Sabbath day with their hearts engaged in keeping the day as God appointed. Not coming to the day saying, well, I'll make the experiment, but my heart is really somewhere else. But come sincerely. Come sincerely with the attitude and the commitment and the disposition, I want to honor the Lord throughout the day.

18:22 I do not believe that anyone has ever properly kept the Sabbath with their hearts engaged in keeping the day as God has appointed, who did not experience or discover experientially the truth of the Lord's promise. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. The first thing that the Lord says as He speaks of the blessings that will come from keeping His day is then, He says, you will delight yourself in Me. In Me, the Lord says, you will have fellowship with Me.

Blessing 2: Ride Upon the High Places of the Earth

18:59 But now, secondly, note that, the text says, and, that's not all the blessings that are promised, and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth, or I will make you to ride upon the high places of the land. Now this promise has been variously interpreted. For example, it has been interpreted as returning from the captivity to the hills of Judah. Or it's been interpreted as referring to being placed beyond the reach of one's enemies, to be, riding upon the high places of the earth far above the reach of one's enemies.

19:38 Now there may be an element of truth in those interpretations. But the phraseology that is found here, and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth, or upon the high places of the land, that phraseology is derived directly from Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 13. And I believe the clue to its proper interpretation is to be found in that text. So please turn with me back to Deuteronomy 32.

20:07 Let's see what Moses has to say and what has come down to us as the song of Moses where these words first appeared. Deuteronomy 32, I'll read verses 9 through 14.

20:29 Moses says to the people, For the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. The Lord is speaking of his inheritance. And the portion of his inheritance is his people.

20:49 And then there's the description of how God has cared for his inheritance. How he has acquired it and how he has cared for it. He found him, that is Jacob, in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness he compassed him about. He cared for him.

21:07 He kept him as the apple of his eye. That is, he kept him as his delight, as an eagle, that stirreth up her nest, that fluttereth over her young. He spread abroad his wings. He took them.

21:22 He bare them on his pinions. The Lord alone did lead him and there was no foreign God with him. There's this exclusive, very intimate, caring relationship that God has with his people. They are the apple of his eye.

21:39 He delights in them. He cares for them even as the mother eagle does with her young. Verse 13, He made him ride on the high places of the earth and he did eat the increase of the field and he made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock, butter of the herd and milk of the flock with fat of lambs and rams of the breed of bastion and goats with the finest of the wheat and of the blood of the grape you drank wine. All of these blessings that the Lord bestowed upon his people.

22:17 Now hear the image. The image of making someone to ride upon the high places of the earth. To make someone ride upon the high places of the land is part and parcel of Moses' description of the Lord's special care for his people. It's part of the description of his blessing of his inheritance.

22:41 The Lord's people are his portion. The Lord's people are his inheritance. And he compasses them about. He cares for them.

22:50 He keeps them as the apple of his eye. He delights in them. And among the blessings that he bestows upon them is that he makes them to ride upon the high places of the earth or the high places of the land. Now what does that imagery mean?

23:07 To be able to ride upon the high places of the earth. Now that may not mean much to us in our culture, in the context in which we live. But in those days, in that culture, that imagery, conveyed a certain idea. For you see, he who rides upon the high places of the land or he who rides upon the high places of the earth is Lord of the land.

23:35 He is its owner. He is its master. And in context, what Moses is saying is that the Lord in his care for his people, in treating them, in blessing them as the apple of his eye, that the Lord will bring his people, his inheritance, into possession of their inheritance and make them lords in it and over it. That's the blessing that is promised.

24:05 I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth. I will bring you my inheritance into your inheritance. I will bring you into possession of it. I will make you lords and masters over it.

24:21 Now returning back to Isaiah 58, that's where the imagery is drawn. It's drawn from the song of Moses. Returning then to Isaiah 58, 14. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, then I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth.

24:44 Now bringing that imagery from Deuteronomy back into Isaiah, what the Lord here promises is that those who keep his Sabbath, he will compass them about, he will care for them, he will keep them as the apple of his eye. If they delight in his Sabbath and call the holy day of the Lord honorable, call the Sabbath of delight, he will delight in them. And he will bless them according to the richness of his favor. He will bring them into possession, those who are his inheritance, into the possession of their inheritance.

25:23 That's the portion of his obedient and believing people. If you hear my voice, if you do my will, if you obey my law, if you do as I bid you do, I will bless you richly, I will bring you into all of the inheritance that I have promised for you.

25:45 Not only will you have fellowship with me, but I will give to you the inheritance that I have promised.

Blessing 3: Feed You with the Heritage of Jacob Your Father

25:54 But now third, our text says, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. I will feed you, the imagery is that of a flock, but I will feed you with the heritage or the inheritance of Jacob your father. Well, here again the reference goes back to the concept of the inheritance of the people. The inheritance of God's believing and obedient people.

26:24 And I invite you to turn to Psalm 105. In this psalm there's a reference to the heritage of Jacob or the inheritance of Jacob. And perhaps it might be a reference to the inheritance of Jacob. Perhaps it might be a reference to the inheritance of Jacob.

26:34 It might help us to understand what these words would have meant to an old covenant Israelite who read this passage or who heard Isaiah on this occasion. Psalm 105, verses 6-11. O you seed of Abraham his servant, you children of Jacob his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God.

26:59 His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant forever. The word which he commanded to Athariel, the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying unto you will I give the land of Canaan the lot or the portion or the line of your inheritance.

27:27 Now what is the imagery of the text? It is the imagery of the covenant faithfulness of God that I have promised. I have promised certain things to you. I have promised your inheritance.

27:39 I have promised your inheritance to you. Standing behind that promise, assuring it that you will receive all that I have promised you is my oath. I have sworn as I live, saith the Lord, that all that I have promised will come upon you. God's covenant faithfulness, His promise sealed with an oath, stands behind the inheritance that they will receive.

28:08 Perhaps we see in our text in Isaiah 58 also the echo of Isaiah 58. Isaiah 1, verses 19 and 20. There the Lord says, If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The same imagery.

28:24 My word, the word has gone forth out of my mouth. I will perform it. If you are willing and obedient, if you will do as I tell you to do, you will eat the good of the land. All that I have promised in my covenant to you will come to pass.

28:39 Well again, here the Lord promises that those who keep His Sabbaths, He will give them possession of the inheritance promised in the covenant that He has made. But the added emphasis is that of the covenant faithfulness of God. That as surely as it will come to pass because His mouth has spoken, so it is sealed by His oath. He has sworn.

29:05 He has sworn. He has taken an oath. He has placed Himself, believe it or not, under a curse. If I do not keep my word to you, may all the judgments that I have pronounced against false swearers and oath breakers, may it come upon me, even the living God.

29:26 The Lord has promised. We turn away our foot from the Sabbath, from doing our pleasure on His holy day. Then, He says, I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

29:40 Now some might say, these are wonderful promises, Pastor. These are wonderful things. The wonderful words said to those who keep God's Sabbaths. Communion with God.

29:54 His special care and favor.

29:58 Possession of the promised inheritance. Possession of all the blessings that God has promised to His believing and obedient people. These are wonderful promises.

30:09 But in the end of the day, Pastor, doesn't this only have to do with the old covenant Israelites?

30:17 Doesn't it really only have to do with the seed of Jacob living under the covenant? Made at Sinai? Does it not at the end of the day have really nothing to do with us living under the new covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ? In the end of the day, Pastor, as wonderful as these things are, they really don't have anything to do with us.

The Messianic Scope of Isaiah's Prophecy and New Covenant Relevance

30:41 Now is that so?

30:43 Is that really so?

30:46 Well, I ask you to consider something. The verses we're examining, our text today, is part of a prophecy that encompasses chapters 40, through 66 of the book of Isaiah. You will read beginning in the first verse of chapter 40. You can read all the way to the end of the book and never find a break in the prophecy that is given.

31:14 It is one continual piece of material.

31:18 And it reaches historically from the return of the remnant from Babylon all the way to the Messianic age and the age of the new covenant. And even beyond, to the new heavens and the new earth. I invite you, go home tonight, sit down with your Bibles. If you've never done it, take the time to read Isaiah 40 through 66.

31:42 It will take you about an hour, maybe an hour and 15 minutes to do it. But read it. And what you'll see is that the sweep of what the prophet speaks of reaches all the way from the return from the captivity to the age of Messiah and all the way to the consummation to the new heavens and the new earth.

32:05 Now, the imagery used throughout this prophecy indeed was chosen to communicate to an Israelite living within the framework of the old covenant. And there's a reason for that. Isaiah was not merely a writer. He was a preacher.

32:21 And he was preaching to his generation. And he spoke to his generation in the only language, in the only imagery that they would have understood.

32:30 Yet the promises made in these chapters extend far, and far beyond the close of the old covenant age. And we know that to be true in at least one very striking portion of this extended prophecy in Isaiah 53, which speaks of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, which speaks of the satisfaction that He will receive from seeing the travail of His soul and being satisfied. There, the sweep of the prophet's vision reaches all the way to the consummation and to the calling in of all of God's people. And the salvation of all of His elect and to the day when Jesus Christ sees all the fruit of His suffering standing before Him.

33:15 It's not enough to say, well, these are Old Testament words by an old covenant prophet to an old covenant people. No, this entire passage, there's a sweep to it. It looks far beyond the close of the old covenant age.

33:28 In these chapters, we find the promise of Christ's coming. We find a description of His saving work. And we find a description of the kingdom, that He will establish.

33:42 And these chapters contain a revelation of the principles of God's government that will exist in that kingdom. It's not just that there is this general description, this general statement that Christ is coming and that He will do this or that and will establish a kingdom. No, the prophet's vision goes beyond that. He describes the principles that will pertain in that kingdom.

34:12 I would invite you to read this. I would invite you to turn back just a few pages to Isaiah 51. We'll look at a couple of texts where it seems to me this is patently true. In Isaiah 51, I begin reading in verse 4.

34:24 We'll read through to verse 8.

34:28 Consider the language of this portion of the prophecy.

34:32 Attend to me, O my people. Give ear to me, O my nation. For a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a life of the peoples. The Lord said, He speaks of the day when He will speak not just to be a light to the Jews or a light to the sons of Jacob, but He speaks of the day in which His speaking will be a light to the peoples, a light to the Gentiles, if you will.

35:04 My righteousness is near. My salvation is gone forth. My arms shall judge the peoples. The isles or the coastlands shall wait for Me, and on My arms shall they trust.

35:17 He is speaking of the day of gospel privilege that goes beyond the borders of Israel. He's speaking of the days in which the gospel will be carried to the four corners of the earth. And the peoples will trust in Him. They will lean upon Him.

35:31 Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But My salvation shall be forever. My righteousness shall not be abolished.

35:47 He looks all the way to the end of the age. And sees what the status of His kingdom will be in those days. Now notice verse 7. Hearken to Me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law.

36:05 Fear not the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their revilings, for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, the worm shall eat them like wool, but My righteousness shall be forever. My salvation unto all generations. That language, the people, in whose heart is My law. Where do you hear that language again in the prophets?

36:28 Do you hear that language again in Jeremiah 31? In Jeremiah's prophecy of the New Covenant. And My law will I write in their inward.

36:40 The law written upon the heart is a New Covenant privilege. It is the great blessing. It's one of the distinguishing blessings of the New Covenant. It was not a distinguishing blessing of the Old Covenant.

36:52 The distinguishing blessing of the Old Covenant was the law written upon tablets of stone. The distinguishing blessing of the New is the law written upon the heart of God's people.

37:04 Isaiah does not have blinders, a limiting blinders on, and is looking only at Old Covenant Israel. He sees far beyond. He sees God's people, and he sees God's people under the New Covenant with the law written upon their hearts. Or turn over to Isaiah 52, verse 7.

37:23 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace, that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that says to Zion, your God reigns. The voice of your watchmen, they lift up the voice. Together do they sing, for they shall see eye to eye. That is, they shall see clearly when the Lord returns to Zion.

37:45 Break forth into joy. Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has made bare His holy arm.

37:56 In the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. What is the prophet speaking about? If you go to Romans 10, and to the way Paul uses this text in Romans 10, he speaks of the preaching of the Gospel under the New Covenant.

38:17 These passages are full. They are full. This large section is full of things that go far beyond the Old Covenant.

38:26 He sees all the way into the age in which we live and indeed far beyond to the new heavens and the new earth. Now, my point is this. When, as he does in our text, which is part of this extended prophecy, when the Lord calls His people to keep the Sabbath and promises to bless them if they do,

38:50 doesn't He also have in mind those that He describes as the people in whose heart is My law?

39:01 Is He not also speaking to them as He calls? He calls His people to obey the fourth commandment, one of the ten primary commandments of His law. When He addresses these words in Isaiah 58, is He not still speaking to those, at least is He not speaking to those in whose heart is His law?

39:25 Isn't He also speaking to His New Covenant people, to that people who preeminently are the people characterized by the law written upon the heart? Well, of course He is. For everything, and these chapters in one sense, is addressed to us as much as to those who live in Isaiah's day. Now, in order to confirm that God's words here concerning the Sabbath extend to us as well,

Confirming Text: Isaiah 56 and the Inclusion of Eunuchs

39:56 in order, I believe, to nail this down beyond dispute, that the prophet is also looking forward to the Messianic age, to the age of the New Covenant, I want us finally tonight to consider a confirming text also found in this same prophecy. And here I ask that you turn to Isaiah 56.

40:19 Again, still part of this larger prophecy running from chapter 40 through 66. But here's a confirming text. If your mind is still suspended in doubt as to whether the words of Isaiah 58 have to do with us, please consider the words of Isaiah 56, verses 1 through 5. Thus says the Lord, Keep justice, and do, do righteousness.

40:47 Now, what do the words do righteousness mean? Well, it means to keep God's law. That's what righteousness is. Righteousness is the keeping of the law.

40:56 But keep justice, do righteousness, for my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be revealed. Language we've seen earlier, chapter 51.

41:08 Blessed is the man that does this and the Son of Man that holds it fast. Blessed is the man who does righteousness the Son of Man that holds it fast that keeps the Sabbath from profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

41:33 Neither let the foreigner that hath joined himself to the Lord speak saying, The Lord will surely separate me from his people.

41:42 Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord of the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant. Unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

42:13 Now note what is said in this text about the eunuchs.

42:18 According to Deuteronomy 23 and verse 1, eunuchs were excluded from the assembly of God's people under the terms of the old covenant. They were excluded. They had no part in the assembly. They were not permitted ceremonially.

42:38 They were excluded from the assembly of God's people.

42:43 Now when Isaiah speaks these words, is he ignorant of Deuteronomy 23.1?

42:52 Is he ignorant of the provision of the ceremonial law that was given?

42:59 Is he simply ignoring it? Well, not at all. He isn't ignorant of this law. He isn't ignoring it.

43:08 Instead, he looks beyond the age of the old covenant right into the messianic age. And there, in Christ's kingdom, under the new covenant, he sees an age in which the old covenant restriction on eunuchs will no longer apply.

43:29 And yet, he still sees what?

43:33 He still sees the Sabbath. He still sees the Sabbath and he still speaks of God's blessing to those who keep it. He still speaks of God's blessing to those who keep it. He still speaks of God's blessing to those who keep His holy day.

43:46 Daniel Wilson, commenting on this text, says, the prophet is here speaking of the gospel age when the ceremonial law which prohibited eunuchs from coming into the congregation of the Lord should be abolished.

44:00 Yet, the eunuchs, when thus at liberty from the law of ceremonies,

44:06 they are described as being still under an obligation to keep the Sabbath.

44:17 Still under obligation.

The Perpetuity of the Sabbath: A Presumption for New Covenant Believers

44:20 Still to be blessed for keeping the Sabbath. God's Sabbath. When we come to the final section of this series, I'll try to bring several direct words of application from the text that we've seen today.

44:37 But in closing tonight, I want to press again a point that we've been seeing since the very beginning of the series. And indeed, the main point of the series, if you will.

44:48 We've seen the Sabbath from the beginning.

44:52 We've seen it at creation.

44:56 We saw it before Sinai. We saw it made possible, part of the law of Moses.

45:05 We've seen Isaiah's looking forward to speak of it in the present age of the New Covenant. All along the way, we've seen the Sabbath day.

45:17 We might further observe that during the Babylonian exile, when every ceremonial form of Israel's religion was impossible.

45:28 There was no temple. There was no holy city. There was no priesthood. There were no sacrifices.

45:36 There was no incense. There were none of the things, that were instituted by the ceremonial law there in the Babylonian exile when every ceremonial form of Israel's religion was impossible. The Sabbath was the one religious institution that remained to the people.

45:56 And that was so because it transcended the ceremonial law.

46:02 It wasn't tied to ceremonies. It wasn't tied to a place, not even to Jerusalem. It could be observed without the temple. It could be observed without the priesthood.

46:14 It could be observed, it could be observed without the sacrifices. It could be observed without the ceremonial law, even in a pagan land.

46:25 Now, we are yet to see what the New Testament has to say about God's day. God willing, when I return from Australia, I intend to take up as the next step of looking at the unfolding of the Bible's doctrine of the Sabbath. I intend to come to the New Testament and to begin with the question, what do we see the Lord of the Sabbath, our Lord Jesus Christ, saying and doing?

46:53 We've yet to come to do that. We've yet to see that. But surely, brethren, as we bring this portion of our study to a close, in a sense, we come to a watershed now. We come to the end of everything that is to be found in the Old Testament on this subject.

47:11 And God willing, four Lord's Days from today, we will come back and take up the subject in the New Testament, those portions that are found there. But surely, from what we've seen already, is there not, having seen it at creation, having seen it before Sinai, having seen all that is said in the Law of Moses, having seen all that the prophets have said about it, even looking into the New Covenant age, surely, brethren, from what we've seen already, is there not a presumption in favor of the perpetuity of the Sabbath?

47:48 Should it not take compelling evidence to cause us to conclude that the Sabbath is no longer God's institution? An institution established at creation and confirmed every step along the way? Should we not at least come with the presumption,

48:13 giving the day the benefit of the doubt with the presumption that it is still God's will that we keep one day in seven as holy to Him? Doesn't the evidence so far favor the premise that it is yet God's will that His New Covenant people, as with His people, in every, in every preceding age, all the way back to Eden?

48:36 Should we not presume that it is our duty to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy as well?

48:45 Well, to this point so far, I have to say, the evidence demands a positive answer. I think it's inescapable that if we're going to come to the New Testament and to what the New Testament has to say, we ought to come, brethren, ready to recognize that indeed, the Sabbath, is still binding upon us. We'll examine what the Lord Jesus says. He is the self-proclaimed Lord of the Sabbath.

49:17 And the question that I want you to ponder over the next few weeks while I'm absent from you, I want you to take time to take your concordance and look up all the passages in the New Testament where the word Sabbath appears.

49:30 But especially pay attention because the most of them, the great mass of them, are found in the Gospels. Pay careful attention to what our Lord, Jesus Christ, does and says and what He does not do and does not say.

49:49 God willing, when we come back, we'll take this subject on and then after dealing with the New Testament materials, we'll finally come to that last section, practical suggestions on the proper use of the Christian Sabbath.

Prayer for God's Blessing and Obedience

50:03 Well, brethren, let us pray. Let us ask for God's blessing upon our study tonight.

50:09 Our Father, as we draw near again into Your presence, we thank You, we thank You for this blessed Lord's Day. We thank You for this marvelous gift that You have given us that one day in seven we might come to Your house and we might spend Your day in the way of Your appointment. Lord, we pray that You would continue to teach us from Your Word the principles that ought to guide us, that ought to direct us in the use of Your day. And even, Lord Jesus, as we acknowledge You as Lord in all things, so, Lord, help us to acknowledge You as Lord of the Sabbath, to take our view of Your day from Your own attitude,

50:54 from Your own use of the day. Lord, teach us, direct us, grant us the Spirit that we might honor You. Lord, teach us to turn our foot away from the Sabbath, from doing our pleasure on Your holy day. And help us, Lord, by Your grace to call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable and to honor it, not seeking our own ways or finding our own pleasures or speaking our own words.

51:22 And, Lord, we are confident because Your mouth has spoken it that all that You have said to us by way of the promise of blessing that if we keep Your day You will bless us in the things that You have said. Lord, we are confident that all shall come to pass, that we shall delight ourselves in You, that we will ride upon the high places of the earth and that You will feed us with the heritage of Jacob our father. Lord, we do ask Your blessing and pray that You would seal these studies with Your grace and mercy. In Jesus' name we pray.

51:58 Amen.