February 8, 2025 - Leviticus 23-27

These chapters describe the appointed feasts for Israel along with providing instructions for many other matters of daily life.  The section begins:  “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.  You shall do no work.  It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places” (23:3).  Reading this, I cannot help but think about Jesus and how often he became weary and needed to rest, how many times he sought to get away from the wearying crowds.  We see, all through the Scriptures, God’s concern and care for his people.  The Sabbath, for Israel, was a wonderful gift, a whole day in which they could come away from the toil of work and just focus on their gracious God.  The first day of the week is that for us, and never should we see it merely as some sort of religious obligation, rather, a blessed gift from our God.  Another thought:  the writer of Hebrews tells us:  “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9-10).  There is that ultimate rest, rest in Jesus Christ and his finished work.  We do not work and labor for our salvation; rather, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

In the arms of Jesus I sweetly rest,

And my soul reposes upon his breast;

As a tender mother her child doth hold,

I am shelter’d in Jesus’ fold.

I am resting in Jesus’ arms,

And I fear not the world’s alarms;

Tho’ its storms assail me on ev’ry side,

In this refuge my soul shall hide.   -- R. A. Evilsizer (1903)