We Have Passed From Death Unto Life
Post 8 from Chapter 6 of Friends With God: The Gifts Of God
In this chapter we are exploring the blessings that God gives to those who delight in his way of life. We have been given the incredible gift of life, but we are mortal, prone to death. (1Cor 15:53-54) So perhaps the greatest gift we can be given is eternal life, but it is conditional on loving others, and loving God:
… “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He (Jesus) said to him (the lawyer), What is written in the Law? How do you read it?
And answering, he (the lawyer) said,
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.
And He (Jesus) said to him, You have answered right; do this and you shall live. (Luke 10:25-28)
Obviously, Jesus is talking about eternal life, for that is what he was asked about.
Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My Word and believes on Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life.
(John 5:24)
In previous posts in this series we have seen that one of the great blessings God has given us is the weekly day of rest, called the Sabbath, which simply means “rest”.
In post 5 in this series we saw how forgiveness of sin is directly related to the Sabbath, and without forgiveness of sin we will not inherit eternal life. (Mark 3:28-29, Acts 2:38, 3:19, 5:32, Gal 6:7-10)
In this post we will explore some of the implications of not loving God, as shown by how we keep the Sabbath.
Killed For Gathering Wood On The Sabbath?
In Numbers 15:32-36 is the well known case of a man being put to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath. This example is often highlighted by people trying to show how unmerciful the law of Moses was.
To build a fire on the Sabbath was unacceptable. (Exo 35:2-3) As it was God who directly ordered this man to be killed, we need to ask why this was such a harsh sentence? (Num 15:32-36)
As usual, we need to read the context of the surrounding verses. Please take the time to read the immediately preceding verses (22-31), which specifically mention people committing sins in ignorance and compares that to those who sin in a presumptuous manner. These verses serve as the introduction to the story of the man killed for collecting sticks on the Sabbath. Once you take the time to read the context, then you will realize that this case was put here in scripture as an example of a presumptuous individual, who had taken God’s name in vain.
If he had done this in ignorance, then God would have been willing to forgive him, as is stated in verses 15:22-29. But this man deliberately disregarded the directives of God, which is another matter:
But the soul who acts with a high hand, whether of the native or of the alien, the same blasphemes the Lord. And that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the Word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off. His iniquity shall be upon him. (Num 15:22-31)
In this chapter of Numbers, we see that God is willing to show mercy to those who love him, but are ignorant of their sins. Yet he is not willing to give mercy to those who don’t love him, but rather despise him.
It is our relationship with God that is central to how he applies mercy to us, for our relationship is all about our turning from the foolishness of sin, and turning to his ways of wisdom and love: which is the process of repentance.
If we are not willing to change our ways to his ways then why should God be merciful?
Photo by author- a restful spot for the Sabbath Day
The Purpose Of God’s Penalties For Sin
The penalties in the law for sin are to dissuade people from committing a sin, or if committed in ignorance or weakness, then to motivate the person to change from his ways that will lead him toward death.
If a person repents after he has become aware of his sin, then he has actually determined to change from his sinful way of life. Then mercy is applied, and a penalty is often unnecessary.
If, however, restitution is required, such as a thief who must repay more than what was stolen, then mercy for repayment may not be applicable, as the one who has been wronged needs to be repaid for the breach, and then some extra for the pain and worry associated with the theft. (Exo 22:1-3)
The man who gathered firewood on the Sabbath had the attitude of despising God, as he acted in full knowledge of what God had said in Exodus 35:2-3.
We see in Numbers 15:22-29 that if he had not known it was wrong to collect sticks on the Sabbath, then he would not have been put to death. He acted presumptuously, and it was for his attitude of despising God that he was put to death, for this attitude blasphemes the Lord.
There was no sign of repentance on this man’s part.
While the act of gathering wood was wrong, it was his attitude that was really the problem. If he had gathered wood ignorantly, then he would have been forgiven. But he did so presumptuously, and suffered the consequences.
He therefore became a witness to the rest of Israel, that God will not allow people to blaspheme the Lord and thus take his name in vain.
The Goodness And Severity Of God
The Apostle Paul talks about a similar situation, and concludes by saying: behold therefore the goodness and severity of God! (Rom 11:1-22)
To be put to death for collecting sticks? No, he was put to death for acting with a high hand and thumbing his nose at God. In front of all Israel, he was blaspheming the very name of God, by not respecting the clear directives given to him just a few days before.
This example of gathering sticks on the Sabbath, shows how serious God is about your taking on his name, and how you keep the Lord’s special Day of rest. For when you deliberately rest on God’s Sabbath you take on the name of God.
Does this mean you can’t collect sticks on the Sabbath? Yes, if you don’t need to for some kind of emergency, and you do it in an “I can do whatever I want” type of attitude.
If you depend on having a fire in a very cold climate, then obviously you would collect beforehand all the fuel needed to keep the fire going on the Sabbath.
If you decide to keep God’s Sabbath, then it would seem a good idea to keep it his way. Then He will bless you:
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at my word. (Isa 66:2)
If you keep God’s Sabbath your way, then, as explained in post 5, be careful that you’re not bearing God’s name in vain. For you bear the name of God when you keep his day of rest. (Exo 20:7-11)
If you bear his name in vain then not only is God willing to punish you physically, as the man collecting sticks was, but you have also been warned that he will not hold you guiltless if you take his name in vain!
Practical Considerations
While we must be careful to keep the Sabbath in the correct spirit, so as to set a good example to others, we should also not judge how others keep the Sabbath, which is what the Pharisees did when they condemned the disciples for picking grain, as explained in Post 3 in this series.
God is the one who judges how people worship him. That is not our job. (John 6:37, James 4:11-12)
However, when we come together as a group, we need to agree on what is appropriate for that setting, which may be different to what we do at home.
Is making some toast actually cooking food? Is opening the fridge work? How about cutting up some salad? Such questions may seem trivial, but they have created division within churches!
Each group, be it a family or church, needs to agree upon what will be acceptable in their own home, or meeting place. Washing the dishes at home could be left till after the Sabbath, but at Church it may be best done when the meal is finished, and everyone does their own. Who in the group does what, and how often they do it, needs to be openly discussed. Everyone needs a rest, and should not have to perform the same tasks on every Sabbath day
There are many unclear and seemingly unimportant areas which can only ever be a personal matter between you and God.
In this regard, God has not set up ‘one true church’ to be an arbiter of what is right or wrong, for every situation, for every individual.
God requires us to develop a personal relationship with him, so that we are guided by his Spirit in our daily decision making. It may be different for you than for me, or from one day to the next. It depends on our circumstances, and the specific need to apply mercy to each situation as it arises.
However, if we are looking forward to the Sabbath, then we should also take sufficient time to prepare for it, which should ensure that “emergencies” don’t keep happening every week! (Exo 16:23, Prov 22:3)
To Do Or Not To Do On The Sabbath?
The Sabbath is a great example of the need to apply mercy in implementing God’s law. All the other laws also require the same consideration, yet perhaps they are not as full of potential conflicts as the Sabbath?
Not lying or stealing seem straight forward enough, although some people feel that it would be ok to lie in order to save a life. (These posts for a discussion on lying to save a life)
How to respect your parents is an area where consideration will be required, as it was by Jesus. (Mark 7:10-13)
Jesus also elaborated to some degree on what it means to not commit adultery, and what it means to murder. (Matt 5:21-28, John 8:1-11)
And the tenth commandment on coveting seems to cover the entire law from its spiritual intent. (Exo 20:17)
We therefore have plenty of areas that we need to ask God for guidance in how to keep his law with mercy. This is particularly important in relation to the Sabbath, as how we keep it is something other people will notice, no matter if they keep the Sabbath or not.
We are living in a very different world from that in which the Law was originally given to Israel. If we were to cut ourselves off from all the work performed in our society on the Sabbath, it would require considerable effort and money. While the Amish may have achieved this goal, it’s up to you to determine if that is what God wants, or intends, for you.
The intent of being called by God is not to isolate us from the world. He wants us to actually be living in the world, but we should not be part of it. (John 17:15) Does that include not using any of our society’s services on the Sabbath?
It’s our responsibility to determine what it means “to work and employ people” on the Sabbath, in the modern context. While someone of more wisdom and knowledge about God and the Bible could tell you what is acceptable or not, such a person is not going to be around all the time to guide and help you to answer other people’s questions. You may also (no matter how wise such people are) consider that their perspective is not applicable in your particular circumstance. After all, it’s your friendship with God that you need to develop. You obviously can’t rely on anyone else to do that for you!
You will also find that many people, who claim to keep the commandments of God, when shown to be not doing so, often justify themselves and ridicule those who do keep the letter and the spirit of the law. Jesus called such people hypocrites! … saying, This people draws near to Me with their mouth, and honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Mat 15:7-9) They claim to believe and follow God, but they are actually following and teaching their own commandments.
Others, in an attempt to show you up for being hypocritical in some minor point, may come up with extreme examples about the inability to stop doing all work on the Sabbath, which, as we have seen already, is not the intent of the Sabbath. In addition, people who don’t want to keep Gods’ commands, may use extreme examples in an attempt to show how onerous and impractical God’s Law is. If you love God and His law, you will not be spending your time coming up with objections to keeping His law and pointing out how impossible it is to obey God.
Examples To Consider
It’s therefore worth considering the following examples, some of which may seem to be far-fetched, in order to understand the logic and mercy of God. He creates laws for our good, not simply as arbitrary requirements of obedience toward him.
We need to ask God to help us to determine what is a reasonable “rest” for us to undertake, in a world that is relying on others to work for us around the clock. Are we being hypocritical by not working, yet using their services?
God has promised to give you his Spirit to guide you into all understanding. (John 14:19-26) Then, once we have our minds made up, we need to use mercy and kindness to understand how others have come to their determinations.
In most Western societies our water and electricity supplies necessitate that someone is keeping an eye on them seven days a week, 24 hours a day. On the Sabbath, we are no doubt contributing to the income of these utilities. As we are not supposed to employ anybody on the Sabbath, does God expect us to remove ourselves from these systems? Similarly, people are working on the Sabbath when we use the telephone, or listen to the radio, and even when we drive our car – as police and ambulance may be needed if we have an accident.
We could counter these arguments by saying that we are not directly employing these people. In addition, if we go to the trouble to not ‘buy’ electricity and water, or drive our car etc., then it certainly won’t make any difference to the number of people working in these industries.
The scripture tells us to kindle no fire on the Sabbath. (Exo 35:3) As most people in our societies never kindle a fire any day of the week, it would be easy in this instance to obey the letter of the law. However, very strict Jews won’t turn on an electric light, as they consider the spark inside the switch may constitute kindling of a fire. However, you don’t have to obey what they think.
It's the intent of the law that we should consider: is turning on electricity the same thing as lighting a fire? How much time and effort did it take to ‘collect sticks’ on the Sabbath? Could we keep a fire going without ‘kindling’ it from the start?
Perhaps we should also disconnect from the sewerage systems?! To counter this, there is clear directive for the Israelites in the wilderness to go outside the camp with a spade to bury their waste. (Deut 23:12-14) As they would obviously have had to do this on the Sabbath, this “work” was permitted on the Sabbath. So, perhaps flushing the toilet is actually acceptable work?!
God allows some leeway for ignorance, and as we are ignorant on the specifics, then of necessity we must make up our own mind, and ask God’s guidance and mercy in doing what we see as essential in our lives.
While the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, we could, with a bit of effort, set it up so that we flick a few switches to remove ourselves from the power, water and telephone on the Sabbath; but is that what God really wants?
What we are told is that God wants us to have a set period of time to rest and congregate with others, and to think about his creation and his Word. In order to enable us to do this, he says “you shall do no work on the Sabbath day”. What that means for those of us in this modern society, is for you (in prayer with God) to determine: … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12)
Due to such issues, some people claim that keeping the Sabbath is not possible. Others consider such arguments as foolish and fallacious, as they see that the intent of the Sabbath is to rest from our work, not simply to stop all work as an object in itself.
What is also implied in all this discussion is that we must prepare for the Sabbath. We are told to prepare our food, and what we do on the Sabbath is different- we won’t employ anyone and we won’t work. We are stopping our normal activities, and this takes preparation.
We are also to be prepared to congregate and listen to the words of God. This is not just a physical rest, but is rather a time for spiritual worship of God, and fellowship, and focusing on the spiritual plan of God in our lives.
The next post in this series will be looking at buying and selling on the Sabbath- is it possible to avoid doing so, and what is the intent and purpose of the law?