Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
March 23, 2018
We are now ready to continue and conclude our doctrine of the of the Sabbath which is what is known as the sabbatical year of Israel, Exo 23:10‑11; Lev 25:3‑4, Lev 26:33‑37.
Passages such as what the apostle Paul wrote in 1CO 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha.
Passages such as what the apostle John wrote in JOH 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Passages like Heb 10:25 which states that we should gather together as we see the day approaching.
Passages like what Peter said in 2PE 1:19 And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
In just a few years, Satan with his deceitful army and games that he plays against anyone who chooses to follow the writer of the book of Hebrews, now he addresses the entire Royal Family.
This is why the apostle Paul wrote the importance of unity and having the same goal as members of the Royal family.
This was the big test of supergrace or what we would call the test of faith-rest ---.
Every seven years, the Jews were supposed to stop work.
If they had been functioning properly under supergrace, then this was really a year's vacation in which they didn't have to work.
Having followed so well the laws of divine establishment, and having functioned under the P.M.A. of B.D., they now took a break on the seventh year to exercise their capacity for life.
So they did not work for a full year without any detriment to them.
Now it is very interesting that the failure of the Jews to observe the sabbatical year was the basis for determining how long they would stay out under the fifth cycle of discipline.
The fifth cycle of discipline was God trying to wake up the human heart to what is important and what are you really are living for.
JOH 7:34 "You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come."
Psa 102:3, "For my days vanish like the smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers."
Psa 102:23, "In the course of my life, He broke my strength; He cut short my days."
Psa 89:49, "You have cut short the days of his youth; And you have covered him with a mantle of shame."
Psa 90:9, "All of our days pass under Your wrath; We finish our years with a moan."
From the Exodus until the first administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom, they had accumulated 490 years in which they had not observed even one sabbatical year as a nation.
Now God, in His great sense of humor, told the southern kingdom in 586 B.C. that since they had missed seventy sabbatical years, therefore He would give them those seventy years in slavery.
Therefore, the first administration of the fifth cycle of discipline lasted for seventy years, Lev 26:33‑36; 2Chr 36:20‑21 cf. Dan 9:2 and Jer 25:11‑12, 29:10.
2Ch 36:20 and those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,
2Ch 36:21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.
So the Jews had to be reminded about the Sabbath.-------- JUST LIKE WE DO.
For 6 years they planted as much as they wanted to and operated under the principle of free enterprise but on the 7th year they were to stop.
God said that "If they would stop on the 7th year and make a memorial to grace that grace would provide what they need.
And so when the first 7 year Sabbath came they didn't observe it, 14 years later they again did not observe it.
“21 years later they again did not observe it, they just “let someone else do.”
For the next 28 years later they once again did not observe for Sabbath. They went on and on and on until finally in a period of 490 years in Jewish history they had missed 70 sabbath years (70 x 7 = 490).
And so they went out for 70 years of captivity in Chaldea and Persia.
It was to be followed but as usual the Jews rejected that which commemorated the grace of God.
Under the agriculture economy of Israel each 7th year they were to stop all work and live off the profits of the 6 years production.
Point 8 is a very interesting point: The year of Jubilee, Lev 25:8ff.
After forty-nine years (in which there were seven sabbatical years), the fiftieth year was called the year of jubilee; it was a sabbath year also.
Now during the year of Jubilee, all the real estate in the land went back to its original owners, all the businesses went back to their original owners; everything reverted back to how it was in year one.
All slaves were to be freed, and whatever was their portion of land allotted to them by tribe and by the system was given back to them.
This just proves the point of history, that no matter what you have in equal distribution, certain ones will gain most of the pie, and certain ones will again fall into slavery.
It's all just a matter of time. Or the principle; equality guarantees inequality.
It was a complete shuffle; no one really got hurt by it.
The purpose was again to remind everyone of grace. For after you've been a successful businessman for 49 years, it's very difficult to orient to grace.
And so He gave them another one...another chance. He gave them what was called the year of jubilee (yobel). Jubilee, the blast.
So we could call this the year of the blast. On the 50th year all the real estate in the land went back or was to be returned to its original owners.
All slaves were to be freed. And, every 50 years they were to start over, Lev 25 talks about the year of Jubilee.
Rejection of the Sabbath concept was total in Israel.
It was totally rejected because they had no doctrine.
It was a "rest ritual" but it was not meaningful unless you had doctrine in the soul to appreciate it.
They blew their Sabbath years, they blew their year of Jubilee when it came out.
And as a result their total rejection of the Sabbath led to grace disorientation.
And here is the principle; they rejected the Sabbath because they rejected doctrine and they rejected grace.
As a result their total rejection of the Sabbath led to a total rejection of grace which caused the Jewish nation to be removed as a nation, not once but twice.
Point 9. Profaning the Sabbath was associated with idolatry and the apostasy of the Jews, Eze 23:36‑39.
Point 10. Sabbath violation occurred after the restoration, Neh 13:15‑21.
Point 11. The Sabbath is set aside in the church age, Col 2:16‑17; Now, the memorial to grace in the church age is not Saturday but Sunday, the first day of the week, 1Co 16:2; Act 20:7.
1Co 16:2 on the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.
Or in Act 20:7 And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul {began} talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
Now, one thing that happened when the Church-age superseded the age of Israel is that Saturday or, the Sabbath, was set aside.
For the Jew Saturday was a time for animal sacrifices.
However, the Jewish age reached its end.
The Jewish age terminated very shortly after that the Church-age began.
Fifty days after the resurrection the Church-age actually began.
Now in the Church-age every believer is a priest and there is no longer a special day.
Because every believer is a priest, and the objective or every believer is to become spiritually self sustained.