Title: Rest in Jesus (Mark 3:1-6)
Contents
3:1 When Jesus went back into the synagogue, on the other hand, there was a man with a withered hand. 2 People tried to accuse him, and they were looking to see if he was healing the man on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up in the middle.” 4 And he said to them, “Which is lawful on the sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” And they were silent. 5 He was grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and looking around them in anger, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” 6 And the Pharisees went out and immediately discussed with the Herodians how they should kill Jesus.
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Last week, the last part of Chapter 2 was related to the Sabbath. Some of you couldn't come last week, so I'll do a little review. It happened in a wheat field on the Sabbath. To a dispute about the Sabbath, Jesus answered by raising the temple and the king. To summarize Jesus' answer, 'I have come'. That is, I am the temple and I am the king, and that is how I came. There was no distinction between Sabbath and non-Sabbath in the temple, and for King David - the builder of the temple - the distinction between Sabbath and non-Sabbath was useless. Things are always happening in the temple, and if I am a temple, I am saying that there is nothing to tell the disciples who are with the temple - in the temple - not to keep the Sabbath. Is there not a large number of people who will build the temple, and if it is not a sin to break the Sabbath in the temple, what does it have to do with whether you eat the grains of wheat or harvest when you are with the king? In other words, when I came to the temple and came as the king who built the temple, what was the dispute?
Chapter 3, which continues today, also begins with what happened on the Sabbath. It happened with the same subject matter, but the focus was different. To summarize today's story in advance, 'I have come is mercy'. That is, the temple or the Sabbath is the place and time where God's mercy and mercy are revealed.
The first place the word rest appears is in Genesis 2, as you all know.
When the seventh day came, the work that God had made was finished, and he rested on the seventh day because the work he had made was finished. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. This is because God rested on this day after all the work he had created and made (Genesis 2:2-3).
This story continues straight from the book of Exodus.
The seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God, and you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, or your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who sojourns in your gates, for in six days the LORD For he made all things and rested on the seventh day, therefore I the LORD blessed the sabbath and made it holy (Exodus 20:10-11).
As in Genesis, we talk about rest in relation to creation. However, what was said about creation changed to other words when it came to Deuteronomy.
The seventh day is a sabbath for the LORD your God, neither you nor your son or your daughter, your male servant or your maidservant, your ox or your donkey, or all your cattle, or the stranger who sojourns in your gates, do no work, and let your manservant or your maidservant do nothing like you. Remember, you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commands you to keep the sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:14-15).
How did it change? The word “rest from work” is the same, but the word about rest in relation to creation has been changed to the word in relation to redemption. What would this mean? The same God is speaking and speaking of the same rest, but when He speaks about creation and then He speaks of salvation, it means that creation and salvation are not different. God's creation means redemption. We call God's work revealed through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ not only God's 'salvation', but also 're-creation'. In general, there is a tendency to think that only the word salvation is grace, but since salvation is also creation, the re-creation through Jesus Christ is also grace.
God made the people he had made to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath so that they might know that God created the world and remember that God had made his people. It was to keep the rest so that we could remember God's work and God's grace. Therefore, it was a day to forget about one's work. It was telling them to stop eating and drinking and sweating and working. Those who were born under Adam had to live through painful labor, but those who have received my grace live by eating my grace. The Sabbath was the day we confessed and acknowledged that we believe. Therefore, those who realize this must say, 'Stop my work, and God will bring us out of the land of Egypt, and only God will bring us into the land of Canaan, and we will never forget that God created us.' The day was the Sabbath. The day when you think that grace does not come because of my work is the Sabbath.
All of this was for the sake of God's name, so that those who received the grace could know who God Himself was. So Peter said:
That… to promote the beautiful virtues of God (1 Peter 2:9).
Therefore, the Sabbath commemorating God's creation is 'Ah! he made it It's not 'well done'. Celebrating creation is commemorating the 'thanks' to the Creator. It is thanks to God that I am here today. The Sabbath was the day to commemorate that we lived thanks to the Lord and that we were saved only by grace. The Sabbath has not been a mechanically fixed day since ancient times. The first day of some months became the Sabbath, and the first or last day of some feasts became the Sabbath. Because the day didn't matter and the meaning of the day mattered. So, when the feasts and the like came back, any day of the week could be the Sabbath, and there were even times when the Sabbath was all year round. The Bible calls that time the Sabbath year or the Jubilee year.
There was a thing that was performed without missing from every Sabbath and every feast. It is a ritual. The meaning of the sacrifice is to ask for forgiveness, which is to ask for mercy. The center of the Sabbath is sacrifice, and the center of that sacrifice is God's mercy and God's giving of life, just like the center of the Sabbath. Therefore, on the Sabbath, the mercy of the Lord must be revealed and the work of the Lord, that is, the creation of the Lord, the redemption of the Lord, that is, the mercy of God. It is Jesus Christ who will reveal and accomplish this very clearly.
Meanwhile, there was a man with a withered hand in the church. People were watching Jesus. He wanted to see if he could be cured on the Sabbath, to be cured, to work, to work, to violate the Sabbath, and to be brought to trial if he violated the Sabbath. What would you like to do with the trial? He wanted to step on Jesus.
It was not Jesus that they hated. He hated Jesus, who denied their vested interests and systems. Could it be that they hated healing? He hated being healed on the Sabbath. It's like capturing wrapping paper and throwing away gifts piled up in wrapping paper. There's a saying that's the spirit of the law... Let's ask. Does the law matter? Does the spirit of the law matter? The law is to serve the spirit of the law. It's dangerous for a child to run into the driveway, but since cars are on the road, they can't get in, and anyone goes to the National Police Agency because they need permission from the head of the local police to occupy the road?
Dear saints,
Our rest today is Jesus Christ. When God gave the Sabbath in the old days, it was because of God's mercy. The rest of God given to the saints today is Jesus Christ. Giving Jesus Christ means that God has given us rest. The rest of the saints today is to believe in this Jesus Christ. Keeping the Sabbath is not to abandon this belief and not to be bound by dates. Today's saints commemorate God's work, God's creation, and live in God's hope is living in Jesus Christ. That is living by the mercy of God. Look at the main text. Which is right on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? We must not resist Jesus coming to perfect his people and create a new people. It is God's mercy that the Lord has come, and the work he is doing now shows God's mercy.
In Genesis 2, God said that He had finished His work and rested. Now, God sent His Son to the earth to complete His creation and redemption.
All done!
Of course, there are people who reject this work of God, both in the past and now. But people's hindrances do not hinder God. In the end, God has revealed through His Son that no one can hinder His work according to His will. The Lord never took his own name in vain. In Jesus, God rested. May you find true rest through Jesus Christ, true mercy from the Lord. We'll talk a little bit more about this next week.
He who has entered into his rest rests from his work, just as God rests from his work (Hebrews 4:10).