Tag Archives: Sabbath

Signs of Legalism

Legalism is one of those terms often labeled but rarely understood. I’ve been accused of it, and maybe you have too, but what exactly is it? Is it, for example, loving God’s law? If so, count the psalmist guilty, who sang, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119:97), but loving the law is not legalism. Or, is it heeding the law? If so, he who said he came not to abolish “the Law of the Prophets” but to “fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17) was a legalist. But he wasn’t.

Call the Sabbath a Delight

Scripture tells us, in the second chapter of Genesis, that “on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Gen. 2:2-3). He who has no need to rest, rested from his work in creation. He who created every day of the week purposefully blessed the seventh thereby making it holy, set apart, from the other days, establishing the precedent of the sabbath and the principle of one full day of rest in seven.

Blessed and Holy is the Day

Do you seek to set your mind on things that are above, rather than earthly things (Col. 3:2)? Do you long to delight yourself in the Lord (Ps. 37:4), to be nourished on His means of grace and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18)? Do you long to dwell in the house of the Lord, living with Him all the days of your life (Ps. 27:4)? “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. …[for] the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Heavenly Provision

By God’s sovereign grace through justifying faith in Christ, the hunger and thirst of your eternal soul can never be satisfied temporally but only eternally. The manna God gave Israel reminded them of His daily provision. The solemn rest God gave Israel reminded them of their rest in His Sabbath provision. The Savior God has given us has become our eternal manna and our eternal Sabbath. We are nourished and rest in His eternal provision.

When the Temple Falls

Do not be deceived: We have but one Savior. He resides in us through the presence of his Spirit and guides us by his ordinary means of Word, sacrament and prayer. And when he returns, there will be no question about it. The question is: What is your hope? The question is: Where is your rest? The question is: Who will you follow?